Fly The Friendly Skies
by SuperGirl06
Summary: Chloe is a flight attendant for Bella Airlines, the chosen airline of new music artist Beca Mitchell and her team. Follow along as the girls meet up and fly the friendly skies together. A/U
1. Prepare for takeoff

Chloe took a deep breath as she checked the galley to make sure they were stocked with everything they needed for their early morning flight. Aubrey had done their briefing for the flight earlier assigning her to first class for the first time. She was finally promoted to purser which moved her from working with the economy cabin to first class for most of her flights. Aubrey, her roommate and Cabin Service Director, had helped her train and work her butt off for this for the past couple years. Bella Airlines was still relatively new in the industry but they have been up and coming with a great but still very new crew.

"Chloe, how are we on the beverage cart check? Have you seen Stacie? I need her checks on economy as well." asked Aubrey as she came through with her clipboard.

Chloe took in Aubrey, the epitome of Bella Airlines. Her navy blue uniform pressed and starched, her golden hair up tight in its bun, and her yellow, white and blue scarf tied at the perfect angle. Not a bit of her was out of place from her make up to her small gold hooped earrings.

Chloe put on her biggest smile she could manage and beamed at Aubrey.

"I think everything is going to be awesome, Aubrey. You don't need to worry. We'll have it under control," Chloe said finishing up her checks so she could help boost her friend's confidence as well as solidify her own.

Aubrey nodded and tried to match the size of Chloe's smile.

"Of course we are. I just want everything perfect on this flight. We've got a full flight this morning and some A-listers as well. Cynthia Rose will be in first class with some of her crew. They are a frequent flying company with us and we'd like to keep it that way. She's been helping produce a lot of music both in New York and Los Angeles so she needs someone to get her back and forth in style and comfort. Let's show her she picked the right airline," Aubrey said as she took a deep breath and put on that look of steely determination as she turned to check in with the flight crew.

Chloe knew her friend was nervous but she also knew that if anyone could sell the superiority of this airline it was Aubrey. The girl practically bled Bella blue from the moment they both applied after college.

"So, have you seen the pilots? Are they the hot young ones we just hired or the old guys they snagged from the other airlines cutting back?"

A tall, skinny brunette in a matching uniform came walking up the aisle dragging her hands along the back of the seats making sure they were all upright and the rows were cleared of everything.

Chloe laughed and rolled her eyes as Stacie made her way up to the first class cabin. Stacie was a great girl and was actually a lot smarter than she led everyone to believe but she didn't hide the fact that she was more a fan of the perks of their job more than the job to anyone when the plane was on the ground.

"I think you're in luck with this one. I think I did hear Luke's British accent when the boarded. I didn't see the co-pilot though," Chloe said looking the other girl over. "You know that Aubrey is going to yell at you for the amount of cleavage you have going on right now, right?"

It was Stacie's turn to roll her eyes this time. She took the responsibility of her job very seriously but the uniforms they were forced to wear did not flatter her the way her own clothes would so she worked it however she could to her advantage. If she couldn't show off her legs she would show off her…other assets.

Hearing the door open from the flight deck, she quickly adjusted the shirt as Chloe winked at her. Both knew that it was not a good move to get Aubrey worked up this early in the day since they all had the flights to and from Los Angeles and New York to work together.

"Alright, ladies, let's get this show on the road," the blonde grinned at the other women who grinned back at her.

The passengers started coming down the jet bridge with their bags rolling behind them. The Los Angeles air had made the cabin a little warm in the fall morning heat. All the window blinds were pulled down and air vents on full blast to help as much as possible but there was still a noticeable difference in the air from the terminal's cool crispness to the more humid walkway.

Chloe and Aubrey greeted the passengers as they all boarded from the front in the galley area by the flight deck. Stacey helped settle passengers in the back as some filtered their way towards her. There was a mix of business travelers, vacationers, and some who looked like they just rolled out of bed. Chloe loved seeing the different people and her smile was never faked when she welcomed them to Bella Airlines.

Beca Mitchell lugged her backpack over her shoulder as she made her way down the bridge, making sure her headphones didn't slide off her neck. She followed her new music producer, Cynthia Rose, as she led the way for them. Cynthia Rose, while not a very public image yet, was still very easy to spot with her trademark pink streaked hair, black Ray Bans on, but most of all this confident swagger where ever she went. It was earned too. She had been putting out some of the most recent nationwide hits over the radio waves and in the clubs. Beca could only hope she could pick up an ounce of confidence and finesse from this woman. Outside of her DJ booth or recording studio, the girl was lucky she didn't trip over her own feet and could string two coherent sentences together without offending someone with her trademark sarcasm. Luckily if she did, either her long time friend and manager, Jesse, or newly appointed assistant, Amy…no sorry, Fat Amy, would be there to pick her up and cover for her. While Beca was still taking time to get use to this jet setting back and forth, these two took to it like fish to water.

As Beca crossed the threshold of the plane she was greeted by the sight of an almost rigid seeming blonde Stepford wife look-a-like and then the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Beca had to blink a couple times to get her eyes to adjust to the view. That seemed to only make the blue eyes looking back at her twinkle a bit more as she smiled.

"Good morning and welcome to Bella Airlines," the redhead said to Cynthia Rose. She looked at Beca and offered the same greeting as the tiny brunette shuffled onto the plane.

As the four of them settled in the first section of the plane, Fat Amy spread out and made herself comfortable.

"Yes, now this is what I'm talking about. First class all the way, right Beca?"

Beca had to chuckle at the Aussie's antics. If nothing else she loved having Fat Amy around for entertainment. The girl had little to no filter and Beca loved that she always knew what Fat Amy was thinking or knew the girl would always give her opinion if asked. She wanted to keep those kinds of people around her as much as possible and she knew she got lucky with Fat Amy.

"Dibs on the window seat," Jesse called out from behind Beca as he tossed his bag into the compartment above their row.

"I know dork, that's why it's on your ticket. You don't actually have to call dibs on an assigned seat," Beca remarked back as she slid her iPod and tablet out of her bag before sliding it in the compartment next to Jesse's bag.

"Children, don't make me pull this plane over," Cynthia Rose chided as she settled into the back left row of first class directly behind Beca and Jesse, pulling out that morning's USA Today to take in the headlines.

Jesse grinned his boyish grin back at Cynthia Rose and slid passed Beca still standing in the aisle.

"Don't worry, Beca, sitting across from me is so much better than a stupid window seat. The view is much better over here," Fat Amy teased as she leaned into the aisle.

Beca sat down in her seat and looked down the aisle to the front of the plane, making sure not to get her head taken off by the passing passengers or errant bags which seemed to be coming from every angle as people came through. She saw now the Stepford wife and the bright eyed redhead were joined by a fit looking blonde pilot. Beca looked over to Amy who had her mouth hanging open and reached over to tap it shut for her.

"Down girl, we need him to fly the plane, not induct you into the mile high club," Beca joked back with the Aussie.

"He can take a trip down my landing str…"

"Oookay, not what I want to hear right now," Beca said making a 'yikes' face at the drooling blonde and slid her headphones on over her ears.

Beca listened to one of the Mumford and Sons songs on her iPod waiting for everyone to settle so they could take off. Her eyes kept traveling back to the front and settling on the perky flight attendant as she greeted all the passengers onto the plane. She had to agree with Fat Amy, though for different reasons, the view was much better from here for her than staring out the window would be.

Things had moved very fast for Beca Mitchell the last few months. She had spent the last couple years getting her associate's at a small local college for her dad's sake but the majority of her time was spent making mixes, working at a local radio station and djing clubs at night and on the weekends. Once she finally got her associate's and her dad off her back she was able to fully commit to her music. It was hard for her father and step mother to see that there was actually a future for her in the music industry but when labels and producers started calling near the end of her college stint, they couldn't deny it much more. With their blessing, she started returning those calls. She learned right away that while she cared a lot about her future and not getting screwed over by legal things she didn't really understand, she was going to need some help dealing with some of these people and their offers to her. Enter Jesse Swanson, her childhood friend and convenient business major graduate who had been working at a legal firm for the past few years. Who better to turn to than the boy she trusted first coming out to when he tried to kiss her at his senior prom? She knew Jesse had taken a risk taking a sophomore to the prom to start with but then an even bigger risk trying to make anything happen more than friendship between them. She owed him the truth even if she couldn't tell anyone else at that time. The fact that the boy just laughed to himself and commented that her extreme love for Buffy made so much more sense after the very bland kiss between them made her realize how great of a friend he was and would be. He proved that time and time again but so far best when he made arrangements for her musical future with Cynthia Rose. She had confidence this woman would do everything she could to get the best out of Beca creatively but protect her personally and professionally as well.

Beca felt a slight tap on her shoulder and found herself staring up into the bright blue pools of the flight attendant bent over smiling at her.

Beca straightened up quickly and stared wide eyed back at her. The redhead kept the smile on her face and she tapped her own ears and raised her eyebrows a bit motioning to Beca.

The light bulb went off in Beca's head as she quickly turned off her iPod and brought her earphones back to her neck again.

"Oh, sorry about that, I must have dazed off or something. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I just didn't want you to miss the announcements coming up. They are very important you know," making a motion towards the front where the blonde was grabbing the mic for the PA system. "Aubrey takes them very serious, wouldn't want you to get into trouble with her."

Beca nodded and gave a small smile back and she could have sworn she caught wink from the flight attendant. At the same time she felt her face getting warm as she looked down and made sure she was buckled in.

"Do I detect a little fire in those cheeks, Ms. Mitchell? Did the scary flight attendant embarrass the bad ass dj?" Jesse leaned against the arm rest to sit closer to Beca as he teased.

Beca didn't hesitate when she didn't look at him but knocked his arm off the armrest making his head drop a bit before he caught himself. He laughed as a smirk came across Beca's face.

Beca settled back in as she heard the PA system come to life as the blonde started to make the flight's announcements for their trip to New York.


	2. Service with a smile

After Aubrey had gone through the basic emergency and safety rules, the flight attendants made their final safety checks letting the pilots know everything was secure for takeoff.

Chloe and Aubrey settled into the jump seats near the galley in the front while Stacy settled herself into the one in economy.

"So, how have you been? I feel like we've been constantly missing each other since your promotion," Aubrey asking once buckled in next to Chloe as the plane continued to taxi on the runway.

"I've been good. Busy, you know but good," Chloe replied. She had been having almost daily flights aside from her required two days off. She hadn't taken a leave or an extended weekend in a long time. She really wanted to prove herself in this position.

"Good. So no more issues with Tom?"

And there it was. The reason she really wanted to prove herself in this job and the reason why she was throwing herself into it completely and head first. She loved flying, she did. She always had since she was little but to have someone treat her like she was nothing but bed warmer personally and a fancy cocktail waitress professionally, Chloe didn't stand for that.

"No, no more Tom issues. Not even casually. He's just not even worth getting upset over as far as I'm concerned."

Aubrey smiled at her friend and roommate. She knew Chloe had enjoyed being with Tom initially. He was the stereotypical, clean cut pilot for the airline. Chloe had talked about him non-stop to Aubrey, saying how he was always so sweet and there for her whenever they both could be. She had called him 'detail oriented' which in Chloe speak meant he was very efficient in bed but also with catching up with her whenever he could. The problem was he was 'detail oriented' with a lot of the flight attendants. Chloe had to listen to this new girl go on and on about her dream guy she has been with on a flight to Chicago only to find out when the girl broke regulations to show her a picture of him on her phone that it was her Tom. She ended things once she landed back in Los Angeles and didn't look back. He had tried to explain which only to led up to fighting with Chloe and making comments about how she was one of 200 of the same woman. That all FAs were the same and they all wanted the pilots, even better if they are not married and that they loved to cater to the pilots on and off the plane. They were just props for the airline there to smile, look pretty, and do what people told them.

"I still can't believe you posted about him on our Facebook page, picture, quotes, and all. I thought that was genius. He was such a dingaling," Aubrey said with a wicked smile.

Chloe smiled. Aubrey hadn't been shy about sharing her impression of Tom when Chloe first started hooking up with him. She had used other adjectives and nouns to describe him then but Aubrey, ever the professional, censored herself on the plane. On top of dumping him, Chloe had posted a warning to all of the Bella FAs about him on the Facebook page they had created outside of the company to post about any flight swaps people wanted and good places to go on their layovers to eat, shop or relax. She warned them of his attitude but most importantly, possible positive STD tests. She didn't care if that last part was true or not.

"I felt it was my civic duty," Chloe said returning a similar smile.

They continued to catch up with each other in the few minutes that it took the plane to finish taxiing. The flight was going to be a little over five hours long but once the service started they didn't know when they would get to talk privately again.

As they started to take off Chloe looked down the aisle of first class. She saw the tiny, dark haired woman with the big headphones gripping her seat's armrests. She had her eyes screwed tightly shut and seemed to be mouthing something. Chloe couldn't help but think she was cute. She looked very young, maybe 20, but the girl's dark make up and ear spikes helped her look a little older and edgier. The girl had that rebel, bad ass look that some had in Los Angles with at least one tattoo she could see on her shoulder coming out from under her sleeveless shirt, but also the leather wrist bands to go along with the ear spikes. While it was quite opposite to her style, she couldn't help but be a little attracted to those who could pull it off well and not act like fake douche bags.

She shut her eyes for the rest of take off, finding herself humming the song she last listened to on her way in. David Guetta's, Titanium, was definitely on her top ten playlist right now. As she finished humming the chorus for the second time around, she felt the plane level off in its ascent. She knew in a few more minutes the bell would ding and they would start their service.

* * *

Beca didn't necessarily hate flying per say. She wasn't one of those people who totally freaked out and cursed the existence of air travel. It was convenient and a hell of a lot quicker than trying to road trip across the country. She is pretty sure, while she loves him like a brother, if they had to endure such a road trip, Jesse would find himself on the side of the road hitching a ride from strangers after being trapped in a car for more than five hours with him. No, she wasn't scared of flying. She was just not entirely comfortable with that whole being stuck in a metal tube in the air while hurtling through the sky thing they have to go through when flying. Once she felt the takeoff had been successful she opened her eyes. From her seat, she could see most of the flight attendant she had spoken with earlier only about three or four rows distance from her, facing her while in those little seats that fold up in the wall of the plane. Her eyes were shut at the moment.

Getting a chance to take the girl in completely she definitely agreed with her first impression. The girl was beautiful, even with her eyes not captivating Beca as they had been before. She was tan, well, tanner than Beca but that wasn't saying much. She felt like she burned if she even thought about the sun. Her red hair was tied up in a bun similar to Stepford wife's hair. The girl's uniform fit her like a glove. Not too tight but still showed the girl had some curves. And those legs look magnificent coming out from the skirt just a few inches above her knees and making their way down into the black high heels she had on. Beca wrinkled her nose at the thought of having to do their job in those heels. Of course Beca could barely walk in her Converse's and flat boots let alone trying to service a flight. The heels definitely did wonders for showing off the muscle tone in her legs though.

"Careful, Becs, you got a little something right…," Jesse said as he reached across and swiped his finger near the side of Beca's mouth. "There. Don't worry, I got it and I don't think she noticed," he said with a smile as he went back to reading his magazine.

"I don't know what you're talking about, nerd," Beca said grabbing the latest edition of Sky Mall in the pocket of her seat. "I was just thinking about getting a globe with a full bar set inside of it. I think it would be a nice addition to the flat."

Jesse shook his head at her. "Yeah, whatever delusional story you want to tell yourself. Who even buys that crap anyway? I mean, who pays almost two grand for a replica British Phone Booth while on a plane?"

"Uh, dude, I totally would! What page was that on?" Beca flipped through the pages quicker.

"Nice deflection but I'm not going to forget you eye sexing the ginger up there. As your official lesbro, wingman I do have to compliment your tastes though."

"Ew, I don't even know where to begin with that statement. One, would we call her ginger – I think you've been hanging out with Fat Amy too long. Two, I'm not sure self appointing yourself as my lesbro wingman counts for anything and also, I don't think you should ever use that phrase again. Like ever."

"Come on Beca, you can't deny my talent for getting the ladies to flock to your side," Jesse said with his eyebrows raised, tilting his head toward her.

"I'm not sure walking up to the ladies at the bar, telling them you know the DJ and bringing them up to the booth after the set counts as being a successful wingman, Jess. I could just as easily walk up to them after a set and tell them I was the DJ and get the same results."

"And yet, you don't. There lays the predicament my friend. Therefore, I get the credit, Professor."

"Professor? What the hell?"

"Come on, Beca! It's a classic reference to Gilligan's Island! Ginger? The movie star," Jesse starts to sing the theme song. "The Professor and Mary Anne here on Bella Air.."

"Oh my God I don't even know you right now," Beca says turning her head away as Jesse ended the song with a flourish.

Jesse laughed at his friend covering her face looking away from him. He knew she loved his antics even though she always played it off that she thought he was a dorky, goofball. Deep down Beca was too but she had to be completely comfortable with people to let it show.

Overhead a bell dinged and the captain made an announcement stating they were at cruising altitude and that it was safe to get up from their seats now and use approved electronic devices but still recommended to stay buckled up when in their seats.

Beca watched as the ging…guh, damn you Jesse, redhead got up from her seat and started to gather things in the front. She momentarily stepped out of her view as she moved into the galley area. Beca plugged her headphones back into her iPod, placed the headphones back over her ears and put it on shuffle as she flipped through Sky mall.

A few minutes later, Chloe made her way down the aisle with a notepad. She began talking with an older couple sitting together in the front row and then to a couple guys in suits across the aisle from them. Beca took in the way she seemed to radiate happiness as she talked with everyone. Beca had to admire those 'people person' types. She lacked that talent completely. Most of her interviews were okay as she could joke with the reporters but anyone trying to get below the surface or anything outside of her music got the biting, sarcastic Beca Mitchell.

* * *

As she took the orders from the other passengers she got to the larger blonde near the back on the right side.

"Hi, there! What can I get you to drink this morning?"

"Ahh yeah, do you have Barcardi? And Sprite?"

Beca looked over at Fat Amy, as she removed her headphones, eyes wide hearing her order. It was nine o'clock in the friggin' morning. What was she thinking?

Chloe, not phased in the least as she had known passengers to drink at all times of the day smiled, nodded and let her know she could get that for her shortly. She turned to the small brunette who she noticed already had her headphones off. She hated when passengers kept their headphones in and either screamed their request at her or whispered it because they didn't want to scream knowing with the headphones on everything around them seemed quieter. She didn't really need to hear their orders as she had gotten really good at reading lips in this job, it just seemed kind of rude to Chloe.

"Hi, I'm Chloe. I'll be taking care of you this morning. Is there anything I can get you to drink?"

"Just coffee, please."

"Okay, any cream or sugar in that?"

"No thanks, just black is fine."

Chloe smiled and took Jesse's order for a Coke and Cynthia's Roses order as well.

When she came back, Chloe pushed the small cart with all the drinks ahead of her serving everyone their orders.

When she got to Fat Amy she popped open the can of sprite, pouring part of the glass into a cup of ice and taking out a little bottle of Bacardi to give to the Aussie. Just as she was moving to hand the glass and can over to her, there was a slight bump and rock of the cabin. The glass and ice dumped onto Beca's lap, narrowly missing her iPod but not missing her dark jeans. Luckily most of the can hadn't spilled but the damage was already done.

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!" Chloe said grabbing some cocktail napkins and dabbing at Beca's jeans as she lifted her iPod out of the way from any future damage.

"Hey, no, it's fine really. Look the tray got most of it. We're good," Beca tried to keep the flush from going across her face as Chloe was blotting the napkins on her jeans on her lap and thigh and placing some more on the tray to keep the liquid from cascading off the surface.

She had to take Chloe's hands to stop from rubbing the spot on her pants more. She wasn't sure what the policy was for flight attendants feeling up their passengers but she could hear Jesse snickering next to her.

"I can go get a towel really quick to get the rest of that. I'll be right back," Chloe said starting to retreat back to the galley only to be stopped by the small hand around her wrist.

"No really, it's okay. It was Sprite right? So no stain and it will dry in a bit you know? I'll just direct the blower onto it. We're totally fine," Beca said trying to keep from making this a bigger deal than it was. She let go of Chloe's wrist when she felt confident the girl wasn't leaving.

Chloe had never spilled anything during a service before, and especially not onto someone. What a way to start out her new position.

"You know, I think Beca is right. We're fine here but if such an incident were to help me, say, get a certain captain's name and number we wouldn't have any complaints at all. And the drinks still of course," Fat Amy said to help ease Chloe's visible nerves.

Chloe leaned up, smiled and chuckled at the girls a bit as she prepared another glass for Fat Amy's drink.

"You know, you really just saved Fat Amy from spilling it herself. It happens at least once a day," Beca said enjoying the sound of Chloe laughing. She wanted to keep that sound coming.

"Yeah, she's right though it's usually not on the first one and not always on her but I think I like your idea of spilling on her more than me. I'm going to have to use that in the future," Fat Amy said as she accepted the glass and bottle from Chloe.

Chloe turned and poured the cup of coffee for Beca, making sure she was steady as she leaned down to set it on the girl's tray. As she was bent over a bit she leaned closer to Beca's ear, noticing the girl was still a little flushed herself.

"I really am sorry. If you want, drinks are on me for the rest of the flight for you and your friends."

Beca shivered slightly as she felt the warm air move across her skin before the other girl pulled away.

"Maybe I will wait until the drink that was on me dries and I will let you know," Beca said trying to be smoother than she felt. Realizing what actually just came out of her mouth she drew her bottom lip in and bit down on it shaking her head slightly. "Please ignore that last part because I can't even believe that just came out of my mouth."

Chloe, not taking offense at all, laughed as she took in the girl who seemed to be blushing more with her eyes closed seemingly cursing herself internally.

She finished the service for first class and came back to the galley area where Aubrey had been watching the whole scene unfold.

"Chloe! What the hell? What is wrong with you? You know those three are with Cynthia Rose. We need to make them happy, not feel like they are at a bar at closing time getting drinks spilled on them by the lushes."

Chloe looked back at the blonde freaking out.

"It's fine Aubrey. They are fine and it wasn't like I could do much with the turbulence there."

"We deal with turbulence all the time, Chloe. Get your head on straight. I'm going to go check on Cynthia Rose and you better hope she doesn't want to file a complaint."

Chloe released the breath she had been holding as she cleaned the cart and let Aubrey pass. She didn't take too much offense to Aubrey's words as she knew the girl was just nervous with the A-listers on the flight. She just wished her friend would chill out a bit seeing as she already felt bad about the situation. She knew Aubrey would have to at least include it in one flight report even if a complaint wasn't filed so the head office was at least aware of the incident in case one was filed later.

* * *

Jesse couldn't contain his laughter as the redhead made her way back to the front of the plane.

"Wow, Beca, just wow. I don't think you have any room to complain about my wingman skills. Like ever," Jesse said imitating Beca's tone earlier.

"Yep, go on," Beca said, know it was best just to let Jesse get it all out of his system now.

"I mean were you trying to make her feel worse about spilling on you?" Jesse continued laughing as he sipped on his Coke.

"Keep it coming."

"I'm going to get you one of those t-shirts that says 'insert foot here' with the arrow pointing up."

"I'm pretty sure those don't exist but let's go, finish it up."

"Okay, okay, last one. How does it feel knowing you two spoke less than five minutes total and she's already got you wet? I think I saw that wet spot getting bigger as she tried to help you out."

"And there it is. Alright, we're done with this. I am going to be ignoring you now for the foreseeable future and you should be thanking whoever you pray to that I need this coffee in my system more than in your lap right now. "

Jesse just grinned back at Beca as she settled back into the large chair and drank her coffee.

"Don't worry about it Beca. Hey, if I get the pilot's number I will be sure to get you in good with the ginger," Fat Amy said downing what was left of her drink.

Beca smiled at Fat Amy and was about to thank the girl until she heard Jesse humming Gilligan's Island. She just sighed and tried to go into her own little world where maybe she could be smooth enough not to make a fool out of herself in front of gorgeous women.


	3. Down in flames

**Chapter 3**

Aubrey made her way over to Cynthia Rose who was relaxing while watching a movie on her tablet.

"Hi, Miss Dean, I just wanted to see how everything was so far for you and your guests. I see you all received your drink service. Chloe will be coming by with some snacks in a moment. Is there anything else we can do for you on this flight to make you more comfortable?"

From the row ahead both could hear Amy cough and say something about 'Captain's number' after coughing.

"Please, just call me Cynthia Rose. No, I think we're all doing fine, right guys?"

The other three looked back and made some sounds of agreement.

"Alright, but if there is anything I can do for you, again my, name is Aubrey. I've already talked to Chloe concerning the drink service incident and I just want you to know we… "

"Thank you but your girl is doing just fine. No need to worry, accidents happen. "

Beca rolled her eyes getting irritated with Stepford Wife, now known as Aubrey. First, she couldn't believe how far the stick up this girl's ass went. It was an accident; Chloe didn't poor hot wax on her or throw steak knives at her. No permanent damage was done to anyone or anything. And secondly, it was Beca that got spilled on, not Cynthia Rose but clearly the girl knew who Cynthia Rose was and didn't give Beca a second glance. She didn't even want to think about Aubrey giving Chloe a hard time about the spill.

Aubrey smiled one last time at Cynthia Rose before moving towards the back of the plane to see how Stacie was doing with her passengers and to help serve them. No sooner than she had left, Chloe came back out with a basket of snack bags arranged with pretzels, cheez nips, cookies, and peanuts. She handed out the bags to the first few rows of her passengers and made her way back to Fat Amy who took one of each. Chloe turned around offering the basket to Beca.

"No thanks, I'm fine."

Chloe furrowed her eyebrows. "Really? Are you sure? Nothing at all? I promise not to spill them on you if that helps?" Chloe asked with a small smirk across her lips.

Beca looked up at the redhead. Looking down at her in return were those sparkling blue eyes. She could see she was being toyed with.

"We're to the inside joke stage now. You're a fast mover, Chloe," Beca said grinning up at the girl, eyebrows raised.

"Well, I'm kind of limited on ways and time to make it up to you so I figure the faster we get passed that awkward stage of things the easier it will be on both of us."

"Oh, Beca never really leaves the awkward stage of things. Will that be a problem?" Jesse asked reaching across Beca to snag a bag of pretzels.

"Hey, it's Chris Rock, everybody," Beca said shooting a quick glare at Jesse.

Chloe laughed at the two's dynamic. They were definitely close but Chloe didn't get a boyfriend/girlfriend vibe from them. It seemed like they were either good business partners of some kind or close friends, possibly both.

"I think Beca is doing just fine," Chloe said bringing the basket back to her but tossing a bag of cookies onto Beca's lap before moving back to Cynthia Rose.

Chloe didn't know who looked more shocked right now, Beca or the guy. She headed to the back row where Cynthia Rose smiled warmly back up at her.

From the row ahead of them, they could hear Jesse making a comment about Beca first getting spilled on and then the girl tossing her cookies onto Beca.

Cynthia Rose started to apologize for them because if she could hear the comment clearly Chloe did as well but when she looked up the redhead was laughing to herself. She thought it was nice to see someone putting up with those two without getting frustrated.

"You'll have to excuse them. We usually don't let Beca and Jesse out in public together but there was no way to avoid it on this trip. If they get too rowdy you have my permission to separate them however you see fit."

Chloe laughed and thanked her, heading back to the galley with her basket.

Jesse looked over at Beca whose face was still frozen and looking at the back of the seat ahead of her.

"Beca, listen to me. You practically insulted this girl and she came back, remembering your name in passing and started flirted with you. If you do not give this girl your number by the end of the flight I will never let you live this down."

After coming out of her stupor Beca looked back at Jesse. "Seriously? You want me to give my number to a flight attendant? Do you know how many sleazy guys probably do that to her in a day? I don't want to be like those guys, Jesse. No way. She's probably just this super nice, overly friendly straight girl anyway."

"I would say you just have to be cool about it all but we both know there is no chance of that happening," Jesse started before Beca shoved his shoulder. "We both know it, Beca. We have to play up your strengths here."

"What are you two yammering on about?" Fat Amy asked leaning across the aisle.

"I'm trying to tell Beca that she needs to give her number to Chloe before we land."

"And I am trying to tell Jesse that would be ridiculous because everyone tries to hit on flight attendants all the time, especially ones as gorgeous as that one. And that she's probably straight anyway so I will look like a fool."

"Oh, the ginger is definitely not the straightest arrow in the quiver," Fat Amy said as she munched on Cheez Nips.

"What? How do you know?" Beca asked as Jesse just smiled knowing he had gained an ally.

"Well, I don't want to freak you guys out, but I have a sixth sense about these sorts of things. It comes from my mother's side of the family where the gypsy folk run in deep in the family tree. It's in the blood. Anyway, your girl may not even know it herself but she's not against taking a dip in the Sapphic waters of the world if you know what I mean."

Beca raised her eyebrows at the Aussie's terminology.

"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what you just said there but I think you were saying something about her not being straight. Or that she likes swimming, definitely one of those two."

"Yeah, for your sake let's just go with that first guess," Jesse said putting his tray up so he could lean closer into the group. "Alright, we've got about two hours to get your number in her possession. Between the three of us I'm sure we can come up with something genius. If I can finally help get you a girl you like, I will die a hero."

"Tone it down, Hitch. This isn't like one of your movies."

"Let me first compliment you on your movie reference. I can see my movication is finally paying off after all these years. But I've got a brilliant idea," Jesse said excitedly, pulling Beca in close to whisper in her ear.

Beca listened, nodding occasionally. After he was finished he drew back and looked at her like a kid on Christmas morning. "Brilliant, right? It has minimal contact, less of a chance to put your foot in your mouth like earlier and get the job done. You just need to execute."

"Jesse, I don't know if…" Beca started.

"Do you have a better idea?"

Beca sighed because for as lame as she thought Jesse's idea was, she didn't have any other plans coming to mind. Not to sound conceded but it was usually the girls coming to her.

"Alright, let's do this," Beca said taking out a pen and writing on the one dry napkin she has left.

* * *

Chloe started coming around with a garbage bag collecting everyone's trash. She went down the row and came to her favorite group this flight. Fat Amy tossed her stuff in the bag and gave her a large, full tooth baring smile. She turned to Beca and Jesse. Jesse was smiling at her with a huge smile and gave her a thumbs up. Chloe quirked an eyebrow at him and smiled back mouthing a 'thanks' questioningly. Beca couldn't even look up at her as she put her coffee cup in the bag. Chloe was a little let down at that reaction, as much as she was confused by the others. She went back to Cynthia Rose and took her trash.

"Chloe, I forgot to give you this."

Chloe turned back to see Beca looking up at her with a napkin folded in her hand. The brunette was blinking at her as though she had something in her eyes. Chloe gave her a questioning look but took the napkin from her hand and tossed it in the bag.

"Thanks, sorry about that."

"No! Wait my num..it had…it was on…" Beca's mouth kept opening and shutting and looking at the bag.

Chloe looked even more questioning at the girl as she looked sadly at the garbage bag.

"Beca, are you okay?"

She small girl sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks."

"Oookay. Let me know if you guys need anything else. "

As Chloe passed her, Beca shut her eyes.

"Dude! What was that?! I told you to wink at her as you gave it to her! You know how to deliver a wink," Jesse exclaimed turning towards her in his seat.

"Dude! I did! Well, I tried, it's just I usually wink with a sarcastic remark. There was so much pressure. She probably thinks I'm a bigger freak now," Beca said through her fingers while they covered her embarrassed face.

"Here's a thought," Cynthia Rose's voice came from behind them. "How about you grow up and just talk to her. It doesn't need to be some movie romance bull, no offense Jesse. You just talk to her, see if there is something there, then ask her if she'd like to go out sometime. You know you'll be both be back in LA soon. If she's cool with it all, you could talk some over the phone and then hang out."

"Dude, she's like Yoda. 'Grow some lady balls you should'," Jesse said while giving his Yoda impression.

Beca reached across the arm rest and smacked him in the back of the head Gibbs and Tony style.

"What the hell was that for?" Jesse said rubbing the spot on his head that received the contact.

"One, you need to stop hanging out with Benji. Two, it was your dumb idea that made me look stupid before I go talk to her which is what I should have done in the first place. Three, I am sure there is another time today that I'm going to want to do that and won't be able to because we will be in meetings."

Jesse looked back at her with a goofy smile and a look of 'yeah, you're probably right' as he shrugged his shoulders.

Beca shut her eyes and tried to calm herself. All of a sudden Amy's idea to have a drink this early in the morning didn't sound like such a bad idea. This is something she could do though. It was different than talking to the girls at the clubs she played at because they knew her, she had the advantage. This girl though, Beca was playing on her home court and she didn't know Beca from Eve. And of course there was the fact that she was trusting Amy's gypsy blood that this girl was even remotely into girls. If she wasn't she could only hope that she was flattered Beca was trying to hit on her and not be insulted. But what the hell, you have to take risks to gain anything and she didn't have a whole lot to lose in this situation.

Releasing the breath she had been holding during her internal pep talk, she watched up front has Chloe settled herself back on the jump seat, flipping through a magazine. After a few quiet minutes she saw her opportunity as one of the suited guys in the front row headed into the lavatory.

Beca unbuckled her seat belt and said a quick prayer as she tore off part of a page from Sky Mall and wrote down her name and number.

"I'm going to go introduce myself. Everybody be cool, it's just a normal day," Beca said while leaving her seat and heading up front.

Jesse and Amy looked at each other and smiled. Cynthia Rose even looked up from her tablet and smiled as she saw the back of the brunette heading up the rows. "That's my girl."


	4. Dance with the Devil

Chloe flipped through the pages of her magazine looking at the faces of current Hollywood. She'd gotten the opportunity to fly on the same aircraft as some of them but she'd rarely gotten to meet them face to face. Now in first class service the chance may present itself more frequently. Even though it's not professional to ask for pictures with the celebrities she would get to see what they look like without their team's influence on their looks. That in itself is pretty exciting in her book. She started to hum Titanium to herself and did a quick check of time to see when she'll have to make another round to check on the passengers.

"That's Titanium, right?"

Chloe looked up to see Beca who, instead of the real estate agent introducing himself as Jeff earlier, was now sitting in the front row leaning forward so she could try and talk to Chloe. Chloe flushed a bit because if Beca could hear the song correctly she was humming louder than she meant to.

"Yeah. You know David Guetta?" Chloe asked, closing the magazine and giving the smaller girl her attention.

"Yeah, Cynthia Rose actually introduced us last week. He's a pretty cool guy for blowing up as big as he has recently. He seems to dabble in everything and the list of artists wanting to work with him is mind blowingly long. He's still really grounded though," Beca said thinking back to the introduction and pretty in depth conversation she had with the man.

"Wow. Okay, I just meant you knew his songs but knowing the man himself is pretty cool too," Chloe said laughing at how the brunette's jaw dropped a little and her eyes widened.

There was that laughter again, triggering eargasms for Beca. She felt the blood rushing up her cheeks by the second.

"Oh wow. I'm totally not one of those name dropping d-bags. I mean, I'm not famous or anything so I don't have that many names to drop, but if I did I totally wouldn't. In fact, when David and I started talking I just rambled on and on about nothing and he finally had to tell me to breath and take a drink because he was so afraid I was going to pass out and he'd have to perform CPR or something," Beca said, starting to gesture with her hands as her story continued to progress.

"Beca?" Chloe interrupted. She didn't think she had seen someone act so dorkable before. That combination was starting to feel like her personal kryptonite.

"Yeah?" Beca replied, bringing her hands back to her lap and looking back at Chloe, bringing herself out of her flashback sequence.

"I know I'm not David Guetta status and I do know CPR, but…breath."

"Right."

Beca took a second to calm herself, taking a deep breath, and looking back at the gorgeous redhead who was smiling a comforting smile back at her. To her relief it wasn't a belittling, but slightly amused at the dorky girl smile but a genuine smile. Beca noticed she didn't have dimples which people would say makes a conventional attractive smile but this girl had cute, round, pinchable cheeks when she smiled which were adorable. Then Beca laughed at herself for thinking like an 80 year old lady because those and crazy female relatives are the only people in this world who think of pinching someone's cheeks.

"I'm sorry. I kind of have a short time period to steal Mr. Suit Man's seat before he comes back and things get really awkward," Beca said looking at the guy next to her and the old couple sitting across from her for the first time. Of course they were listening in but only the men were pretending not to. The older lady was hanging on her every word and not doing a damn thing to hide it. Yeah, scratch that, things were going to get awkward real quick but she didn't care anymore. "You probably have this sort of thing happen to you all the time…and it should, really…but I really don't do them all the time. I'm not going to lie to you, I tried to give you my number back there on that napkin all smooth and everything but my wink went all haywire and well…here I am now. I wanted to let you know that I am traveling to New York to try and work out some music deals that may or may not happen but I will be back in LA by the weekend either way. I would really love it if we could get together sometime for coffee or something."

Chloe blinked a couple times while taking in Beca's best 'deer in the headlight' mixed with terrified smile expression.

"Did you just ask me out? Like on a date?"

Beca took a second to answer. She realized this was do or die time. She could play it off as a platonic meet up or she could just bite the bullet. Looking at Chloe's open, friendly face while feeling those fluttering and tingly feelings in her chest she knew she didn't really have a choice. Sometimes you have to dance with the devil. It helps if the devil is as good looking as Chloe.

"I…um…I guess that depends on if that gives you a good feeling or not? If it does give you a good feeling, then yes, I did. If it doesn't then I'll just head back to my seat and we can pretend this didn't happen."

"Really? You can pretend you didn't just approach someone with your number written on what appears to be part of the advert for a suit of armor from Sky Mall with the intent to ask them out?" Chloe asked impressed with the girl's, not really confidence because she was clearly terrified, but maybe conviction to see this task out. And it did explain the weird scene before with the trash and piece of paper.

"You would be surprised the things I can pretend didn't happen when I've made a fool of myself. It's a talent really, bordering on a survival tactic for me."

"I'll bet," Chloe said smiling while standing and stepping forward for the piece of paper in Beca's hand, taking it from her fingers.

Beca looked down at her now empty hand and back up to Chloe who sat back down. She didn't know if Chloe taking her number counted as her giving her number to Chloe but she certainly didn't care about technicalities. Mission accomplished in her book.

"So, is that a yes?" Beca asked, sounding not so timid now but slightly curious.

"That is an 'I will strongly consider it'. We'll talk before the weekend," Chloe said, her smile growing bigger as she slid the number into her uniform jacket pocket.

Beca's smile beamed back at Chloe but then noticed the door to the lavatory unlock. She stood up quickly from the seat. "Okay. Great. I'm just going to head back there then. I guess I'll see you again soon?"

Chloe nodded as the man came out from behind the door. Thinking Beca was waiting for the lavatory while standing there motionless in the aisle he nodded his head towards her and said, "All yours."

Beca raised her eyebrows at the guy and nodded back. "Yeah, no, thanks but I'm good. I'm great," backing away as the man let the door shut, placing himself back in his seat.

Looking down at the older lady smiling up at her she contemplated giving the lady a high five for seemingly being so cool about the conversation she blatantly eavesdropped on and in celebratory cheer but decided not to press her luck.

She turned back around to see her friends' heads quickly pull back from the aisle.

She sat back down in her seat, trying to keep her smile from busting through but failing horribly. From the corner of her eye she saw Jesse back to reading his magazine with a matching smile. Slowly he brought his left fist up above the armrest towards her into her view. She rolled her eyes but let her smile come out as she chuckled and she bumped his fist back and he blew his up, sounds effects and all. From across the aisle she heard Amy say something that sounded like, 'that's right, our twig bitch crushed it,' before she pulled her iPod and headset back out. Sliding the headphones on, she dialed her iPod to the "T" song section and let what she thought was going to become a fast favorite of hers overtake her senses.

* * *

Chloe watched as the smaller girl went back to her seat, smiling all the while. In all actuality, this was one of the first times someone had tried to give her their number. It did happen on occasion but not nearly as often as people thought, especially if just flying domestic flights. This, however was a first in two categories for her. This was her first female passenger giving her their number. And this was the first passenger who gave her their number that she was actually considering not tossing in the trash at the end of the flight.

Chloe looked over and saw the older lady in the front row watching her. Chloe smiled back at her.

"Did you need anything Mrs. Donovan?" Chloe knew the woman listened to the whole conversation and she was a little worried about what the woman might say but it wasn't like she could just ignore her for the rest of the flight. She definitely couldn't tell the woman off if she ended up being some bible thumping preacher type. She mentally crossed her fingers.

"Oh please, dear, call me Agnes," the woman responded.

"Okay, Agnes. Is there anything I can get you?" Chloe asked feeling a bit more positive about the woman.

"I know it is none of my business and I hope you don't mind me asking but I was just curious if you were actually going to go out with that other young lady," Agnes asked, her smile still beaming. "It's just, she reminded me of Frank when he finally got the nerve to ask me out I couldn't help but listen and reminisce. He was so shy that he stuttered and kicked at the ground until he finally got the words he wanted to say out but they were a jumbled mess. I already knew what he was asking. He had been watching me. But it was sweet because I had been watching him as well."

Chloe looked over at the older man next to her and noticed the man had a smile on his face as he read the paper.

"I honestly don't know yet. I'm thinking about it," Chloe said, deciding the woman meant to make conversation more than to be nosy or pass judgement of fire and brimstone.

"Well, if I was you, I'd give her a call. The earspikes are a little scary but she's cute otherwise. My granddaughters are all doing their makeup like that nowadays too. Tiny little thing though. Make sure she eats something sometime. Frank would be skin and bones if left on his own."

"I know, right? I thought that about her earlier," Chloe started and laughed. Beca was tiny and there was no two ways about that but she didn't think the girl looked unhealthy by any means. Chloe didn't think she'd need to fatten her up or anything like that. She chuckled to herself realizing she was making the smaller girl out to be some barnyard animal who's future was on someone's plate.

"Good luck either way, honey. I'm sure you'll decide what's best for you."

"Thank you, Agnes," Chloe said just as she heard Aubrey making the announcement that the final round for collecting any trash was going to be made and then preparations for landing would start.


	5. The Eleventh Hour

Chloe grabbed one of the trash bags she had up front getting ready to head through the aisle for the final clean up before the passengers disembarked just as Stacie came up to the galley.

"How do you stand your flatmate? If we had been placed together I think I would have quit within the first month," Stacie said rifling through some of the draws and cabinets.

"She's not that bad, really. She just doesn't expect anything less from us than she does from herself. What happened?" Chloe asked, use to helping remind her fellow cabin crew members that Aubrey was in fact not Satan's spawn.

"I know you're right but it would really help if she wasn't so perfect all the stinking time. I accidentally switched a drink order in the back and she acted like I spit on the passenger or something. I was in the middle of fixing it and she came in to "save the day" offering them comment cards and drink tickets if they felt my service wasn't up to their standards," Stacie replied complete with air quotes and everything.

"Well, she's probably just trying to cover us since I gave one of our VIP passengers a shower in her friend's drink order."

Stacie stopped rummaging and looked at Chloe for the first time.

"You did what? Who? What happened? Did they get mad?" Stacie asked, genuinely concerned knowing how Chloe felt about messing up.

"No, nothing like that at all. It was all fine just when we hit that turbulence back there I spilled some Sprite…on someone."

"Oh God, tell me it wasn't Cynthia Rose. Tell me you didn't spray Cynthia Rose."

"Ew, choose a different verb. That just doesn't sound right. No, it was the brunette that she's traveling with. I think she's a musician or something. "

"A musician, huh?" Stacie asked as she slyly leaned back to see the aisle and get a look at the brunette who was sitting with her headphones on and eyes closed. "Yeah, I don't know her. You sure she's the musician? The guy next to her could be."

"You know, I don't really know. I guess I'll have to find that out."

"Find out? You plan on stalking her or something? You already Googled her didn't you? I knew I taught you well."

"No, I haven't Googled her and no, I'm not going to stalk her," Chloe said looking at the other girl listening to her music.

Stacie looked between Chloe and Beca. "Really? Because you're already starting some of the tendencies, complete with a tiny creepy smile."

Chloe cleared her face and looked back at Stacie who was grinning back at her with her eyebrows raised. One nice thing about the situation was that Chloe knew Stacie didn't care what people labeled themselves – gay, straight, fluid, unicorn – didn't matter, Stacie was all about love…or sex…either way, she didn't judge.

"It wasn't a creepy smile."

"You're right, it was a adorable, not creepy at all like Reese in the car from Cruel Intensions."

"That…that's actually kind of a compliment though you didn't mean it that way. I loved when she was trying to get him to laugh and not take himself so seriousl.."

"Anyway, are you looking to get with her? It's not your usual style to get with the passengers. We're not even on a layover but I'll help if you want."

"I actually…have her number already," Chloe said, not sure how much she wanted to divulge right then.

Stacie turned back to her, beaming with pride.

"Look at you, you mover and shaker!"

Now Chloe's cheeks went red

"It wasn't really…I mean I didn't ask…"

"No, no. I am impressed. You have very good taste. Even better if she does end up working in music," Stacie said eyeing the unknowing brunette.

Chloe couldn't help but want to keep Stacie from checking Beca out anymore. One thing she was sure of, she didn't want Stacie on Beca's radar or vice versa.

"Girls! What is the hold up? You should be going through the final pick up," snapped Aubrey bringing both girls to attention.

Neither girl noticed Aubrey making an entrance from the back, smiling and greeting passengers all the while wondering why her crew wasn't seen.

"Sorry, Aubrey, I was just looking for another trash bag. Found it!" Stacie said holding the bag up, giving Aubrey a quick wink making her way through the front cabin. Both Chloe and Aubrey watched as Stacie leaned over to shake hands with Cynthia Rose who gave the tall girl a dazzling smile and the two talked for a couple more seconds before Stacie leaned back and made her way back to economy.

"I don't know what to do with her sometimes. She can be amazing but one day she is going to have someone's husband or wife after her with a knife or something," Aubrey said shaking her head watching the display. Stacie wasn't really doing anything wrong and overall the passengers loved her but Aubrey was always afraid one day she would cross a line.

"You know she's not that bad, Aubrey. She's smart about whom she gets involved with and she just makes everyone else feel a little more important when she talks to them," Chloe said reminding Aubrey of what she already knew.

Aubrey uncrossed her arms and released the breath she perpetually held as she felt the warmth of Chloe rubbing her lower back a little as she passed her. Chloe always knew how to keep her friend calm by the slightest of well timed touches, smiles, or comments. She took it upon herself to make sure the blonde girl didn't freak out unless it was necessary.

The rest of the flight was smooth and aside from smiles and small pleasantries exchanged, the girls didn't talk the rest of the flight. As the passengers started to disembark, Agnes gave Chloe's hand a squeeze and a big smile, both of which Chloe returned.

As Beca approached Chloe, Beca gave her a shy smirk.

"Have a good trip in New York. I hope everything works out well for you. Positive thoughts, okay?" Chloe commented to the shorter girl.

Beca couldn't help how the smirk transformed into a smile. Chloe might actually be the nicest person she has ever come across. She was definitely in the right field of work although Beca could also see her as a hot nurse but she pushed those thoughts out of her head…for now.

"Thank you, we'll definitely try. I'll look forward to telling you about it soon."

Chloe bit her bottom lip instinctively. For all her dorkiness, Beca did have those moments she shined and Chloe liked that she had already experienced that in the short time period with her.

"I look forward to it too. Take care in the mean time, Beca."

Taking in those brilliant blue eyes and soft smile one last time, Beca continued off the plane realizing she was one of those reasons the economy passengers were surely complaining in the back about how long it took to get off the plane. She figured or at least hoped if they knew what she was feeling they'd understand.

Beca made her way up the bridge to the terminal thinking about how those eyes were going to haunt her in her dreams when she felt someone come up along side of her. She turned to see Cynthia Rose next to her.

"You feeling ready for this kid? You need to be focused going into these first meetings. We can have some fun later but you have to feel confident about why we're here."

Beca took a second to collect herself. While she would love to sit and think about Chloe calling her and other things she could be doing with Chloe she had a job to do. The butterflies and anxiety had to take a backseat just now. She looked back at a smiling Cynthia Rose and nodded.

"Alright, good. You already know I think you will be amazing. Let's go show these other people what you can do."

From behind them they could hear Fat Amy make her presence known.

"Team Mitchell is here, New York. Get ready to drop your panties."

Jesse, Beca, and Cynthia Rose all turned to look at Amy with varying expressions playing across their faces.

"What? Too much?" the Aussie asked.

"Yikes," Beca said turning to start this trip, hoping it goes as well as the flight.

* * *

"CHEERS!" the team shouted as clinking their glasses together. The group all drank their drinks in celebration of a successful trip. They had a night and an afternoon on their own before heading back to Los Angeles on a red eye flight. They had all decided to head to one of the clubs they had been invited to after one of the meetings. Beca was on her second Captain and Coke and feeling pretty good. She couldn't believe she was on her way to making her first CD and getting some good artists to collaborate with her on some tracks. Cynthia Rose was amazing although she would never take any credit for their success. She kept telling Beca that the goods were all in the music. It was just her job to help the others see that too. Beca couldn't help but think Jesse had done his job as well making sure everything administrative and legal was lining up and done fairly. There was no doubt she had the best team around her that she could have hoped for and she was definitely grateful for that. Her only struggle came at times between meetings when she would check her phone for messages or calls and when a certain pair of eyes seemed to be projected on the back of her own eyelids when she tried to sleep. She got the job done though, that was the main thing. Unfortunately, now that gave her time to stew about what she had put on the back burner earlier. She was trying to keep from torturing herself about what she could have done differently or what she could have said to keep the girl from calling but it was turning into a losing battle tonight. So far no one had brought it up though it was clearly on the girl's mind at down times.

"How's it going there, little one? You still feeling alright? Nobody's blurry yet?" Amy asked sliding onto a seat next to Beca bringing her out of her own thoughts. The Aussie had been feeding the girl shots as much as she could but had only gotten her to successfully take two so far though it wasn't from lack of trying.

"I'm golden, Amy, thanks. How are you doing? Got big plans for the evening?" Beca asked, noticing the blonde had been racking up a few numbers from some of the guys in the club as she went up to the bar. She had noticed Amy kept her eye out on the bouncer though who came in to grab a drink of water from time to time.

"Ahhh, yeah, I don't know yet. I'm keeping my options open, ya know? How about you, Sprite?"

"I really wish you wouldn't call me that."

"Aww but Beca, it fits! You walked around with Sprite on your pants the first day here without even thinking of changing like any normal person would have done and you're cute and tiny like the mythical creatures. I think you're going to have to accept it, Mitchell."

Beca rolled her eyes as she checked her phone for what felt like the millionth time that night. She wasn't sure how she felt about Amy judging what was 'normal'.

"Still no word from Ginger, huh?"

"No, not yet. I mean it was only a couple days ago. I'm sure she's got a crazy schedule, you know? She could be flying anywhere. Plus she could do like, volunteer work on her time off. Or has a sick grandma that needs her to…"

"Yeah, definitely," Amy cut off her rambling before it went too far. "Don't worry about it, Sprite. I don't think your girl will leave you hanging. I was picking up a vibe she was throwing off. I think you've got a shot. In the mean time, you want one of a liquid, drinkable kind?"

Laughing, Beca shook her head and drank her Captain and Coke. Beca never needed to be wasted to enjoy her nights out not that it didn't happen from time to time, but she wanted to enjoy this natural high she had going right now without having to worry about the hang over tomorrow morning.

"Can't blame a girl for trying," Amy said standing up. "Uh oh, here comes Boy Wonder. He is definitely seeing a little blurry. I'm going to let you handle this one solo style," Amy said as she picked up her drink and headed back into the crowd.

"Make good choices!" Beca shouted out to her as she saw the blonde disappear.

Beca looked up to see Jesse making his way to the table she was at, a drink in each hand. He came up to the table and placed both drinks down.

"I got you another drink. You need to be on this level, Beca. It is a celebration for God's sake and you..are THE QUEEN OF MUSIC!" Jesse said increasing in volume until he ended up shouting for all to here. He got a few cheers around him but mostly Beca just laughed at him.

He looked down to see Beca's phone in her hand and shook his head.

"Beca Mitchell…the girl who waited," Jesse said in his best Matt Smith impersonation.

"Well, I started to think you were just a madman with a box," Beca said with a smile and a sad attempt at a Scottish accent, finishing her drink and grabbing one of Jesse's.

"See, this is just one of the many reasons I love you. I do. I love you. And if your Amy Pond doesn't call you it is her loss. I still think she'll call but if she doesn't you don't need her and in a couple months everyone will know who Beca Mitchell is and you can have your pick of the litter!"

"It might be good if she doesn't call. You may run out of famous redheads to compare her to."

"Never! I accept your challenge! I haven't even scratched the surface! I mean cartoons alone I have Ariel, Pebbles, Raggedy Anne, Pippy Longstocking, that little red hair girl from Charlie Brown but I can't think of her name. And let us not forget Jessica Rabbit."

"I think her name was Little Red-Haired Girl, but I take it back. Clearly I have underestimated your nerdiness once again. I apologize," Beca said as she raised her glass to him.

He smiled back and clinked hers as they both felt the table shake under them. Beca looked down and saw an unassigned Los Angeles number appear on the screen of her phone.

"Beca Mitchell, the girl who waited. You've waited long enough," Jesse said with one of the biggest smiles Beca had ever seen him have.


	6. Clearing the Air

Chloe juggled her apartment keys, bag, jacket, coffee tumbler and dry cleaning. Somehow she managed to get the keys in the lock and turn the door handle. Okay, so she may have had the tumbler lid edged clamped between her front teeth as she did it but the main thing was she was in the apartment and didn't drop anything. She dumped her bag, keys, and tumbler onto the breakfast counter while she kicked her shoes off and hung up her jacket in the front closet and then took her dry cleaning into her room. She came back out into the living room, unclipping her hair out of its uniform bun and sliding a few bobby bins out of her hair as she shook it and set it free. Heading back to the kitchen she put her tumbler in the dishwasher and grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water from the refrigerator door. It had been a long couple days for Chloe. Because she was so new in her position she had no seniority and therefore got a lot of the longer and a lot of the connecting flights. The good news was the flights she was on went problem free, even when she flew to St. Louis with the new flight attendant, Lily, who kind of frightened her. Chloe was certain that if any of the Bella flight attendants were to turn spy like that girl from that show Pan Am, it was going to be Lily. She already looked like she could moonlight as an assassin.

She sat down on their plush couch, putting her feet up on the wooden table in front of her taking a long drink from her glass. Aubrey was on a layover in Dallas for the evening so she had the place to herself to unwind however she deemed fit. Sometimes she would crank her music and have her own personal dance party during moments like this (she was the master of The Robot and she could Dougie) but tonight she just wanted to keep the lights low, maybe light some candles, draw a bubble bath, order in some Thai food, and relax.

And she did just that. After her bath, she put on a pair of charcoal gray yoga pants and a fitted, purple v-neck t-shirt and placed her order for some pad khee moa then settled down to catch up with her DVR. She was already feeling like a new person. Right when she was going to see who on Dancing with the Stars was getting sent home, she heard a knock at the door. She jumped up and grabbed her wallet from her bag. As she fished out some cash for the delivery guy, she felt the piece of Sky Mall paper run under her finger tips. She brought her food in and pulled out the piece of paper. She had put it in her wallet for safe keeping after she dropped off her dry cleaning the other day.

Chloe looked at the dark scrawl across the paper as she grabbed a fork, the carton of food, her phone and the piece of paper.

"Beca Mitchell," Chloe read aloud as she resettled on the couch and started eating. All of a sudden whether the football player or the gymnast went home didn't seem as important as she kept looking back and forth from the piece of paper to the TV as she ate.

If she was being honest with herself she had tried to make this call several times before but just didn't feel like she was in the right state of mind to call a practical stranger - a cute practical stranger, but stranger none the less. Chloe loved talking to and meeting new people on her flights but she didn't want to talk to Beca like she was just someone to meet, greet, and send on their merry way. She wanted to actually be able to focus on the conversation and get a feel if there was really something there or if it was just a passing feeling. Of course it didn't have to be a deep, soul searching conversation between them for her to agree to coffee. She just needed to make sure it wasn't going to be ten minutes of her pulling conversation from the girl.

She checked the time on her phone which told her it was going on 7 p.m. which meant it was going on 10 p.m. in New York. After an internal debate with herself whether it was too late to call she figured if nothing else she would leave a message.

"Here goes nothing," Chloe breathed out as she dialed the number.

The phone rang three times and Chloe was preparing herself to leave a message when she heard loud music and shouting coming from the other end.

"Hello?" Chloe half shouted into the phone, pulling the phone away from her ear.

"Hello? Chloe? I'm sorry, I'm going to call you right back okay? Five minutes, tops! Be right back!"

Chloe didn't even really get a chance to say 'okay' before the line went quiet.

'Alright, not entirely what I was expecting but not totally out of the ordinary,' Chloe thought to herself.

She took a few more bites of her noodles and veggies before putting the leftovers in the fridge and found out who was no longer going to be dancing before she heard her phone ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Chloe? Is this Chloe?" she heard Beca ask in a much quieter place. She could still hear background noise but now it was wind and what sounded like a radio advertisement.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm sorry, I hope I didn't call too late." Chloe shifted to lay down on the couch and put her feet up on the armrest.

She could hear Beca chuckle a little.

"No, it's absolutely fine. We were just out celebrating but I was thinking of heading back to the hotel anyway."

"Beca, if you're supposed to be out celebrating with your friends you should be back wherever you were at before. I can call back another time."

"They definitely don't need me there to celebrate, trust me. I am much happier sitting in the cab talking with you anyway."

Chloe kept the 'awwww' to herself but the smile on her face was starting to make her cheeks ache.

"Well then, why don't you tell me what you were celebrating?"

"We actually signed a couple of deals to get some artists on my cd that Cynthia Rose is helping put together. We should be able to get into the studio soon and record some things soon now that we've got more of a solid plan."

"So you are a musician! And a CD! That's a big deal, Beca! Congratulations! What about Jesse? Does he play in the band or something?"

"Thank you! I mean we still have to do a lot of the work, but it is pretty exciting. And Jesse's my manager. We did grow up together and did some music stuff in the past but he got out of it for business school. If you're lucky though you can sometimes hear his sweet tunes when he's in the shower. Like buttah."

Chloe couldn't help but laugh at this visual as she could easily see Jesse impersonating Ferris Bueller with a shampoo spike going on in his hair and using the shower head as a microphone. He seemed like a goofy kind of guy like that.

"And what about you, Beca? Do you sing sweet tunes or do you play something?"

"Well, I can play guitar and piano but I mostly mix. I'm more of a DJ than anything else right now. I do sing some back up stuff on some tracks when I need to."

All of a sudden Chloe wished she would have taken Stacie's advice and Googled Beca before calling her. She had pegged the girl more as a bassist or something, maybe a singer, but now thinking back to Beca with her large headphones on she could totally see DJ.

"Which would be a good reason to know David Guetta then, huh? I'd love to hear some of your stuff sometime."

"Yeah, it definitely can't hurt to know someone like David. I'm sure we can arrange for you to hear something sometime. Enough about me though, what about you? How have you been?"

"I've been good. I actually wanted to apologize that I didn't get a chance to call earlier. It seems like all I've had time to do is fly, sleep, shower, repeat. Occasionally I'll get to grab a meal."

"You definitely don't need to apologize. I mean you called, that's all I hoped for right now anyway. And your schedule sounds crazy busy. Do you like it? Flying I mean."

"All you hoped for right now, huh?" Chloe asked teasingly.

"For right now, yeah."

Chloe could almost see the smirk in her head.

"Alright…for now. As for flying, I'm in a new position that keeps me busier than when I was just regular cabin crew. I love flying though and seeing so many different places and people. It's not always as glamorous as everyone might think but I honestly couldn't picture myself doing anything else for a living."

"Well, I would have to say you were the best flight attendant I have ever had the pleasure of flying with. And if you're doing something you love and that you're good at, that's great. "

"Beca, I spilled a drink on you. If that is the best service you've gotten on a flight you should get some money back or something back from those other airlines," Chloe deadpanned but ended with a laugh.

"Hey, it all led up to this so I'm totally okay with how it happened. Chloe, can you give me one minute? We are just pulling up to the hotel and I need to pay the driver."

"Sure," Chloe replied. She couldn't help but notice the girl was not nearly as nervous over the phone as she was in person. Beca hadn't stuttered or fumbled her words once yet. This seemed kind of promising so far in Chloe's book.

"Okay, back. Are you still okay to talk some more?"

Chloe looked at the clock and saw it had already been half an hour since she called. "Yeah, I'm still good. What about you?"

"Absolutely!"

Chloe could hear Beca making her way through the hotel and had to assume she was heading to her room. "Alright, so what's the plan for the rest of your evening? Did you grab some dinner already?"

"Yeah, we had dinner before we went out. The only plan I had for tonight was to talk with this beautiful girl I met earlier then settle down and sleep for the night. What about you? Did you eat?"

"Wow, who would have guessed under all that shyness was a sweet talker?" Chloe laughed but couldn't ignore the heat creeping up her cheeks. She loved that Beca called her beautiful – not hot, like Tom did all the time, but beautiful. It definitely had a nice ring to it. "But thank you. And yeah, I ate a little bit ago so I'm good."

"I hate to break it to you but I'm not really a sweet talker, I just have eyes that work. But…so I…I was just…wondering…"

Chloe waited a few beats for Beca to finish her thought. She had no clue exactly what the girl might be wondering so she wasn't about to try and fill in the blank.

"I was wondering what you were thinking when I asked you out."

She took a moment to think back to the few days ago when she first met Beca. It was still fresh in her mind so she didn't have to think too hard about it but she wanted to choose her words carefully.

"Well, it was definitely a surprise…but…a nice one."

"Okay, no violent gag reaction you had to fight back?"

Chloe didn't bother holding back the laughter this time. "Beca! No, nothing like that at all. I mean, I took your number when it looked like you might actually ask and dash. And I called so that's got to give you some positive feedback."

"Yes, I definitely got positive feelings seeing you call. Or at least hoping really hard it was you calling. But, I guess I just wanted to be clear about…what this could be? Does that make sense without making it seem like I'm ready to just jump into bed with you?"

Chloe had already spent a lot of her spare time thinking about this exact thing since meeting Beca. She hadn't seriously dated a girl before. She'd fooled around with a few but nothing serious came of it. As Stacie would classify it – she's played in the minors but never made the move up to the majors. To add to that she didn't really know if she was ready to commit to anything serious right now. Of course she was going to be honest, especially since Beca was asking pretty directly.

"I got the idea you were looking into at least a date. I am interested in that. Beyond that, I'd have to see how things go. I mean, I think you could be a very fun person to hang out with and I think there is a mutual attraction here but actually dating a girl would be kind of new to me. Nothing I'm opposed to, just new."

Chloe held her breath as she hoped she hadn't totally turned the girl off from at least meeting up with her once. With the little she knew about the girl so far she didn't know if her answer was what the other girl wanted to hear.

"Alright, here's what I think. When I am back in Los Angeles I'm taking you to dinner. I'm skipping that whole coffee idea and counting our fateful flight as our pseudo date. I think anything more about relationships should be after our first meal together, especially if we're delving into dating history. I've always felt that's the kind of talk to have least over dessert or drinks."

Closing her eyes and releasing her breath slowly, Chloe felt her anxiousness she felt melt away. She hadn't scared her away and she could see a dinner with Beca being a great time away from her own craziness. "I think I like that idea. A lot."

"Good, we'll get that set up. Sooo…mutual attraction, huh?"

Chloe just laughed and covered her face. "Of course that's what you took away from that."

She was happy to hear Beca laughing along with her. "Ah, of course it was!"


	7. What Friends Are For

The girls had only talked for about 15 minutes more before saying good night to each other and saying they would keep in touch before the dinner. Beca thought the phone call went really well, way better than she would have expected. She didn't feel like she was under any sort of "liquid courage" influence from the drinks earlier but she really hoped the dinner would go as smoothly. She was really looking forward to getting to know Chloe more. In every interaction with the girl she seemed so genuine. Beca had never met anyone who seemed to truly care about people they barely knew but there was Chloe, a shining example.

Beca got ready for bed but quickly found out that sleeping may not be an option right away. She couldn't believe everything seemed to be going her way for once -the music, the career, the friends, and a potential girl. Of course her natural reaction was to start looking over her shoulder every chance she got waiting for the other shoe to drop, but, for just a minute while alone the in safety of her Manhattan hotel room, Beca Mitchell let herself enjoy this moment. She turned on the TV and flipped to the first music channel she came across. Miley Cyrus came across the speakers and without a moment of hesitation Beca joined in the chorus of Party in the USA, jumping on top of the bed and dancing for all she was worth.

When the song was done Beca laughed at herself in the mirror as she hopped off the bed, seeing her hair coming out every which way from the messy ponytail she had pulled it up into. She turned down the TV and went over to her laptop while she fixed her ponytail with a new mix idea ready to burst out of her if she didn't get started on it.

Beca was about half way through laying the initial track when she felt her phone vibrate on the desk. She picked it up and saw a text message from Jesse. She opened the message which read, "Open up, please." Beca slid her headphones off and went over to her door looking through the peephole to see Jesse staring back at her. He looked a bit more sober than earlier so she decided to take her chances. She unchained and unlocked the door and let the boy in.

"Sweet Jesus, about time. I've been knocking for the last ten minutes. What have you been doing?" Jesse asked as he flopped onto her bed.

Beca walked past him over to the desk and her laptop again. "Please, feel free to make yourself at home. Would you like some water too?"

"Yeah, that'd be great actually!" Jesse sat up expectantly.

Beca simply turned back to stare at him blankly.

"Oh right, that wasn't an actual offer of good hospitality, that was sarcasm. Got it. Well, I'm still going to help myself to a bottle," the boy said as he got up and grabbed a bottle he saw on a side table, cracking it open and taking a large gulp of it.

Beca rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen where her music still sat on pause.

"So why'd you disappear? Cynthia Rose just said you were heading back to the hotel. Did we bore you? I know you probably could have done better with the music but it wasn't all bad." Jesse sat back down on the bed grabbing the remote and flipping through channels on the quiet television.

"I got a phone call I had to take." Beca tried to keep the stupid grin off her face by holding her lip muscles tight but she could tell it was a losing battle. She could hear Jesse stop pushing buttons on the remote and then heard a slight shuffle of fabric. Jesse all of a sudden appeared next to her sitting on the desk.

"Oh my God, that's right! I'm an idiot! Please. Please tell me that phone call was from a certain flight attendant with eyes the color of the ocean on a clear day, hair as bright as the flames in your heart, legs as long as…"

"Where do you come up with this stuff?" Beca tried to shove him off the desk but was unsuccessful.

Jesse laughed and smacked lightly at her arm pushing against her. "Seriously, Beca, that is great! What did she say? Are you two hanging out soon?"

"Well, we just talked a bit about the trip here, her flying, and then a little about us, just random things after that." Beca saved her work and started closing the programs on her laptop. She could tell she wasn't going to get much more work done on the mix tonight.

"Hey, way to be vague and general there, Beca. Are you really not going to tell me the details?" Jesse took another drink of water but also started to kick the side of Beca's chair gently to get her attention.

"Has anyone told you that you act like a high school girl sometimes?" Beca laughed while she pushed Jesse's leg away from her chair as she stood up to pack her laptop.

"As a member of the female population, you probably shouldn't use that as an insult." Jesse jumped down from the desk to sit in the now abandoned roller chair.

"Yeah, well, I don't know how great of a representative I am, especially when I was that age. Perhaps we should trade cards?" Beca went back over to the bed sliding in at the top leaning back against the pillows resting against the headboard.

"As tempting as that is, I'm going to pass. You all have too much drama, which I prefer to keep on the screen or stage, thank you very much. So what, is she at least interested? You don't seem super pumped. Did she turn you down?" Jesse rolled the chair closer to the bed, grabbing the remote before Beca could to ignore the conversation he was trying to make by messing with the TV.

"No, she didn't turn me down. We have a date when I get back," Beca huffed.

Jesse's jaw dropped. "Beca! That's great! Why are you not jumping on the bed right now?"

Beca smiled slightly and looked at the bed she was on. Jesse followed her gaze and saw the disheveled state of the blankets for the first time and chuckled.

"I see. Been there and done that, huh? Well, good. But what's the deal now?"

"There's no deal, I just don't want to jinx it or over think it all and make myself so nervous I can't function. It was nice just to be able to talk to her without stumbling over myself like a moron. And it sounded like I'm going to have to win her over on this first date if I want things to go anywhere."

"Did she say that?"

"Not in those exact words but it sounds like she's definitely on the fence about this whole thing. She's willing to give it a chance though. It's more than I thought she'd give me at first."

"Alright, operation Woo Chloe will immense tomorrow. First order of business will be to come up with a better operation name. Then we will need to find out what kind of food she likes, what she likes to do in her free time, and whatever else we can find out. We will also definitely need to pick out an outfit for you. She seems like the dress up when going out type and you can't just slob it up if you want to win her over." Jesse said leaning over and grabbing the little pad of paper and pen by the phone on the bedside table. He started making a list as he rambled on more to himself than Beca.

Beca furrowed her eyebrows and glared over at Jesse who didn't even see the look of indignation. "What the hell? Slob it up? I do not dress like a slob."

"You can sometimes. But, you do have the occasional cleavage showing outfit and one of those should work well. We'll just need to make sure you're dressed for the restaurant. Here, I'm writing this all down for you so you know what you'll need to find out from Chloe so we can get this set up."

Beca turned to look at the ceiling. She lifted her head so she could take a pillow from behind her and place it over her face while Jesse continued to plan 'the perfect date'. Beca decided right then and there she was going to make Jesse a Lady Card. Sparkly and pink.

* * *

Chloe hung up the phone after the girls' conversation wound down and she told Beca she didn't want to keep her awake any longer if she had a long day ahead of her. She looked at the time again and decided to send Stacie a text message to see if she was around. She grabbed a random magazine from the coffee table to keep herself busy. She only had to wait a few minutes to receive a reply saying that Stacie was in from flights. Chloe sent her another message asking if Stacie could come over or if she could call. Within seconds her phone rang.

"What's up, Chloe?"

"Hey, I was just wondering if you were around and free tonight. I wanted to run something past you and see what you thought. "

"Yeah, I just got in from Denver. I was debating on just staying in or giving one of the guys a call. But I'll consider hanging out. What do you have to offer a girl?"

Chloe could hear the teasing flirtiness in Stacie's voice.

"Mmm…well, I have a bottle of wine we could open. Assuming you don't' have to fly in the next 24."

"You assume right and I like where your head's at but you're going to have to sweeten the deal, Beale. What else have you got?"

Chloe laughed and rolled her eyes. Of course her friend was going to make her work for it.

"I have some left over Thai food you can have. You can choose whatever we watch on TV and I'll donate a carton of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream to the evening."

"Chocolate chip cookie do…Oh goodness…please tell me…" Chloe could hear the growing excitement in the other girl's voice.

"Yes, the ice cream is actually Aubrey's."

"Sold! To the desperate red head down the hall!" Stacie laughed. "Just let me get the plane stink off and I'll be down."

Chloe laughed and went over to the shopping list both Aubrey and she kept on the side of the fridge adding 'ice cream' to the list. She knew Aubrey wouldn't mind her sacrificing the ice cream for her cause but she wouldn't be excused from replacing it. "Good, just send a text when you're on your way down."

About 45 minutes later both girls were settled onto the couch. Chloe had her feet up on the table in front of the couch and Stacie had a bowl of freshly reheated pad khee mao resting on her lap with her feet settled on Chloe's lap. Both girls had glasses of red wine sitting on the table. Chloe picked hers up and started to sip it.

"Alright then, why was I so thoroughly bribed here, Chlo?" Stacie asked as she started to dig into her dish.

Chloe finished her sip and looked over at Stacie. "Remember that girl, Beca? From the flight to New York?"

"Tiny brunette with the big headphones, heavy make up, and leather bound accessories that you were stalking? Yeah, I remember her. What about it?"

"I told you I wasn't stalki…guh..anyway…I called her. She's coming back this weekend and we're going out on a date."

Stacie stopped chewing and swallowed the food in her mouth, and looked at Chloe who seemed all of a sudden very interested in the episode of Dance Moms that was on in the background.

"Rrrrreeeallly? Chloe Beale, are you…actually interested in this girl or just trying her on for size?" Stacie wiggled her feet in Chloe's lap to get her attention.

"Try her on for size? She's not a car or a dress, Stacie. She was nice," Chloe answered, lightly pinching the wiggling feet.

"Awww, come on now, don't be like that. Okay, no more teasing. Talk to me. What's going through that pretty head of yours, Beale?" Stacie continued to eat and take drinks from her wine glass as she waited for Chloe to sort out her thoughts.

"I'm not sure. She's different. I mean, with all the guys I dated I never really thought about hurting them if it didn't work out, you know? I just always thought 'they're guys, they'll bounce back and forget about me'. With any girls I fooled around with it was never anything really serious and they knew that. Beca just seems like she might be different. She doesn't seem like she wants to just fool around and she seems so…I don't know…innocent isn't the right word but…vulnerable isn't quite right either." Chloe furrowed her eyebrows to think of the exact word she wanted to use.

Stacie watched her friend concentrate. "Basically, whatever she was or is, she made you care about her and her feelings already. That's what's got you so thrown."

Chloe looked up at Stacie and nodded. "I mean, I told myself I'd just give her a call and see where that went. Maybe we'd just grab a coffee if the conversation wasn't painful. But she was funny, and relaxed. She didn't try to throw every pick up line in the book at me, although she did flirt a little, but it was nice. It was like she just gave it shot too."

The two girls looked each other in silence for a moment. Stacie set the bowl down on the table and finished her wine. "Alright, so you're just two girls, feeling a little something towards each other, and you're feeling things out. I don't see anything wrong with that."

"I guess. It does seem a lot simpler when you put it like that. I'm over thinking things aren't I?"

Stacie set the glass down and switched her position on the couch, laying her head in Chloe's lap. "As of right now, I don't think there's anything to over think at this point. Just go with your gut on this one. Find out more of what's she's like instead of what she seems like. Go out with the girl, relax and for God's sake have some fun. You deserve it after all that training you went through and flying you're going through now."

Chloe sighed and began to run her fingers through the other girl's dark hair. "You're right."

Stacie smiled up at her friend. "Of course I'm right. I'm a damn genius."

Chloe laughed and poke Stacie in the side making her squirm a bit. "And so modest too."

The tall girl swatted at Chloe's offending hand while trying to remain on the couch. "What's the point of being modest when you've already bared witness to my geniuosity?"

Chloe had no come back for Stacie's twisted and yet somehow logical logic. She stopped poking Stacie's side and went back to combing the girl's hair with her fingers.

Stacie sighed contently once she was resettled and they both watched a few minutes of the crazy dance instructor yelling at the insane moms on the TV. "Now, don't think you're getting away without spilling more about Beca. And ice cream. Don't think I've forgotten about the ice cream, woman."


	8. Best Laid Plans

The next morning, Beca was greeted by both her manager and her personal assistant both donned in dark sunglasses and quieter than normal voices at breakfast in the hotel before checking out. Beca settled on her usual coffee and pancakes drowned in syrup. The other two merely drank their coffees in near silence as Beca sat down at the seat across from them.

"So, everyone enjoyed themselves last night I see! Amy, where did you even end up?" Beca asked while she swirled her pancake bite in the syrup on the plate before popping it in her mouth.

"There was an after party that involved an old warehouse, flaming gorilla titties and flaming giraffes, and some off duty then on duty fire fighters. I don't think I can divulge much more than that without a lawyer. And if reporters come snooping around you don't know anything. What about you, Short Stack? Where did you scuttle off to before the real fun started?"

Beca took a second to let Fat Amy's answer fully sink in. Then she realized that for all the questions that came flying into her mind, she really didn't want to know any of the details and it was probably for the best. Before Beca could answer, Jesse chimed in as he lazed back in his chair, pushing his sunglasses down lower on his nose. "Her lady love finally gave her a call. We have a big time date to plan for this weekend. Did you bring the list, Beca? Operation Capture Chloe needs to start soon if we're going to be set by Saturday night."

"Wait, we have to kidnap the ginger to go out on the date? What the hell did you get yourself into, Beca? I mean I'm down but that doesn't really seem like your kind of scene. It reminds me of this one time when I…"

Beca jumped in before the blonde could get any more crazy ideas. "No, we're not kidnapping her or planning on breaking any other laws in the process. It's just a date."

Jesse drained his coffee and set his sunglasses on the table. "Okay, I will admit the name still needs some tweaking but come on, Beca. This is pretty big for you, pursuing instead of being pursued? I can't think of any other time you've done that."

Beca couldn't deny what the boy was saying. As that reality started to sink in, Beca leaned back in her chair and put the fork down on the plate with a small clatter. She started to worry her lip and bounce her leg.

"Now you've gone and broke her. Way to go, genius. Listen up, Sprite. You are not getting cold feet. You are not going to doubt yourself on this one. You have got a kick ass team behind you in this. And, well, you're not too bad yourself. You are going to charm the pants right off of one Miss Chloe Flight Attendant who I'm sure has a last name but we'll get to that later." Amy grabbed a fork by her and started in on Beca's pancakes which were left unattended and lonely for the moment.

Beca's hands flew up to cover her face. "Oh my God, I don't even know her last name!"

"Don't worry. I don't know a lot of my guy's last names on the first date. Heck, I consider it a good date if I know their first names!" Amy did a "cheers" motion with her current bite of pancake towards Beca before she ate it.

Jesse grabbed a fork and joined in on the pancake buffet on Beca's plate. "You can't really call your one night stands dates, Amy."

Amy's fork pushed Jesse's away from the syrupy goodness she was determined to finish off. "Who says I can't? Anyway, we're talking about Beca here, not me. It'll be fine. We have all day to sort out the details. Operation Firey FA won't fail."

Jesse sat slack jawed. "Damn it. That's a good one. I was thinking all night too. The best I came up with was Operation FireFly."

"You should have just gone with Operation Catching Ladybug," Beca mumbled into her hands before bringing them back down to her lap.

Both Jesse and Amy looked back and forth between each other and the now quiet girl across from them.

Beca noticed the silence and looked up at her table mates and grabbed her coffee mug which she tapped her fingers lightly against as she held it. "You know, because she has that little ladybug tattoo on her wrist?" She watched as her friend's faces start twitching at the lips. Once it became apparent they were trying to hold back their laughter Beca rolled her eyes. "You know what, never mind. Continue with your brilliant plan making. I'm just the one going on the date. No biggie."

"Aww, no Short Stack. It is adorable but I have to admit, not once did I see this tattoo you're mentioning. You must have been scoping your girl hardcore to spot that detail. Or did she flash you little skin when we weren't looking?" Amy finished the pancakes in one last drippy bite and slid the empty plate back over towards Beca. Both Beca and Jesse looked at Amy sadly who just licked her lips and tossed her fork down. "Alright you turdburgers, I'm set for my morning now. I'm going to get on the phone and plan you the best damn date you've ever dreamed of. Fat Amy will get you laid by the end of the weekend, mark my words. Operation Panty Dropper is a go." The blonde stood up and left the table before either Jesse or Beca could interrupt or try and stop her.

Jesse looked back at Beca who was displaying a mixture of shock, impress, and fear across her face. "Maybe it won't be as bad as we think," Jesse tossed out hesitantly. "I mean, she is getting to know you pretty well now and it might be nice to just enjoy whatever she plans with Chloe without having to stress about making things perfect."

Beca let out a deep breath and blinked a few times bringing herself back into the moment. "Yeah, I guess it can't hurt. I mean, it will be me and Chloe together so what's the worst that could happen? Should I be afraid that it seems like she always wants people to drop their panties for me?"

Jesse brought his hand up to his chin in a thinking pose. "You know, I think it's a compliment in her own way. Let's just go with that for now. Deal?"

Beca looked back towards where Amy had left moments ago. "Deal."

* * *

"Honey, I'm home!" Aubrey pulled her trolley into their apartment, swinging the door shut behind her.

"Oh good, sweetheart! Come join me in the shower before Aubrey gets back. I think we have time for one more quick round in he…Oh, Bree, it's you!" Chloe said giggling as she stuck her head out of the bathroom from the hallway.

Aubrey could see Chloe was just wrapped in a towel with her hair up in a messy bun, fresh out of the shower. "Haha. Very funny, Chloe. You know it took me weeks to feel okay using the shower again after hearing about your little sexcapades in there. I cleaned it every time before I used it and I still felt dirty after showering." Aubrey made her way towards the bathroom to get to her room.

Chloe laughed some more at her blonde flatmate as she continued to get ready for her day. "Oh I know, Bree, and I apologized more times than I could count. And I cleaned the entire bathroom too even though it was just the shower that was "infected" as you called it. And I bribed you with dinner and that new Gucci you wanted, which you accepted so I think we're even. To be honest though, I don't regret the action, only the partner."

As she started to get settled and undress from her uniform to her robe, Aubrey looked over at the Gucci pouch that held her new purse which hung so fondly in her closet. "I did forgive you but it is just hard to forget. And when you keep bringing it up it makes it harder!" Once changed into her robe, Aubrey headed out into the hallway to continue talking to Chloe. "What are your plans for tonight and tomorrow. Your first Friday and Saturday free. We should go shopping tomorrow to celebrate. Or do dinner tonight after I wake."

Chloe hesitated as she looked back in the mirror at Aubrey who was now leaning against the doorframe in her blue , fluffy micro-robe with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "We could go shopping but I'm waiting to hear from Beca to see what our plans are." Chloe watched as Aubrey's brow crinkled and her eyes rolled upwards in thought.

"Beca. Beca. Do we know a Beca?" Aubrey asked after thinking a bit trying to recall some of the girls Chloe recently had training with.

This was one of the moments Chloe was afraid of. She knew how Aubrey felt about anyone hooking up with passengers. She was always judging Stacie for it, even if Stacie was just going to hang out with some of them and nothing more. Aubrey considered it like dating someone in the work place even though Chloe and Stacy didn't see it like that at all.

"We kind of do know a Beca. She was on our last New York flight," Chloe answered as she went about putting her make up on so she could vacate the bathroom so Aubrey could shower and then sleep. Aubrey didn't usually waste any time going to bed after coming back overnight flights. She hoped if she was vague enough she could quickly get out of the situation before Aubrey put the pieces together.

Aubrey had her look of concentration on again. "No, that was Stacy, you, and me. We didn't have a Beca on the flight."

Chloe was about to say something further when she saw Aubrey's eyes lift up to look widely into hers. "She was a passenger wasn't she?! Chloe, what have we talked about? Dating passengers only complicates things."

Chloe sighed and finished putting on her make up. "We are just going out on a date. Not getting married, Bree. She's nice. And what's worse really, dating someone either on crew or in the flight deck or a passenger. Those are the people we see most of the time anyway. We saw how the flight deck thing worked out for me."

The blonde watched as her flatmate quickly finished up in the bathroom and packed up her stuff to put away. She could see the frustration growing in Chloe's motions. The last thing Aubrey wanted to do was come home and fight with Chloe. The girl was smart but Aubrey was always afraid she might be too nice to everyone. It was an amazing trait to have in a flight attendant but it could get you in trouble outside of the aircraft. At least Stacie had a bit of an edge to her if people gave her any problems. She may seem like the ditzy kind of girl you could get away with anything with but Aubrey knew that was what let people feel safe around her. Stacie was a lot smarter than most would give her credit for and she didn't take any crap from people off the plane. Aubrey was shocked and proud how Chloe handled the Tom issue but Aubrey didn't think it should have even gotten to that point. But, at the same time, Chloe was smart too and Aubrey never wanted to fault her when Chloe just really wanted to see the good in all people.

"No, you're right. I'm sorry. And you deserve a nice time out," Aubrey said throwing in a tired smile for good measure.

Chloe halted her cleaning up and looked at Aubrey. When she saw the smile she knew Aubrey was at least trying even if she didn't agree with her actions. Chloe flashed her a large smile back as she finished up and headed towards the door, leaning over briefly to give Aubrey a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, love. Bathroom is all yours. You want me to heat something up for you before you sleep?"

The blonde rolled her eyes at her friend's overly friendly nature. It had taken her years to get use to but now cheek kisses, terms of endearment, surprise hugs and cuddles were a part of her daily life. And if she was honest with herself, she wouldn't change it for anything. "Thank you, dear, but I think I'm just going to sleep after my shower. Don't think you're getting away without telling me more about this girl before you go out though. I need to make sure she's not some crazy serial killer that is just leading our little lamb to slaughter. I'm claiming you for dinner tonight. No argument."

"Aw, Bree, you do care!" Chloe turned and grasped her hands over her heart and make sniffling motions as she headed into her bedroom and Aubrey headed into the bathroom. "And yes, I am all yours for dinner. We can have roomie night!"

Aubrey chuckled as she closed that bathroom door. Chloe closed her bedroom door behind her and leaned against it with a smile. "Well, that could have definitely gone worse although she has yet to hear what passenger it is. Maybe we need some wine for tonight. Yes. Definitely, wine."


	9. One Step Closer

Chloe set up dinner as she waited to her Aubrey's alarm clock go off. The girls agreed to be back around the apartment and up around 7 p.m. for their roomie night in. Chloe picked up some Italian for them, Aubrey's favorite when she let herself indulge in carbs, which was sitting in the oven keeping warm. A bottle of red wine was out on the counter breathing. She surveyed the mini table the two girls had arranged between the kitchen and the living room where they could have "formal" meals. She had gone so far as to straighten up all the common areas in the apartment while Aubrey slept. It wasn't that Chloe was a slob it was just Aubrey was a bit of a neat freak. Any piles of random mail that lay about or recycling that was waiting to go out had been removed from sight. All the blankets and pillows out had either been put up or arranged just how Aubrey liked them presented. She even lit Aubrey's favorite candle hoping it wouldn't mix weirdly with the smell of the food. She was feeling confident about the evening. Now she just had to wait for Aubrey to wake and make her appearance.

Chloe grabbed her laptop and checked her email while lounging on the couch. She got caught up on all her social networking and recent news. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw she still had about half an hour before Aubrey would wake. On a whim, while seeing an article about Justin Bieber's latest incident on TMZ, she put the name 'Beca Mitchell' into the search function. There she saw a few articles pop up. Chloe's eyebrows rose up in shock. Clearly the other girl was bigger than she actually thought. Quickly scanning the article headlines she pieced together she had mostly DJed some big parties but there were also articles concerning her showing up at performances with people like Cher Lloyd, Ellie Goulding, Andy Grammer, and Christina Perri. The list seemed to go on and covered various music genres. One article in particular caught her eye though. It had the headline "Ronson Replaces LiLo." She clicked for the full article and saw a picture of both Samantha Ronson and Beca leaving a club together. There wasn't too much more to the article only saying that the two girls had met previously at a gig and Samantha asked Beca to join for this party. It didn't say anything further about Beca other than she was a fellow DJ in her own rite and could give Lohan a run for her money with her ex. Chloe shook her head at how the situation was probably blown out of proportion. The two girls weren't even touching or looking at each other in the picture. They were just exiting together. She clicked back and then saw there was a video with Beca looking up at the camera under her dark lashes as the screen shot. Chloe couldn't help but click play on the video. There she saw Beca heading out of some other club flanked by Jesse. The camera guy was asking for a comment about her upcoming album and working with some guy she hadn't heard of. Clearly she needed to brush up on her music more than she thought. Beca looked up at the guy as she continued to walk by slowly and smirked at him. She tossed him some comment about how she was hoping the album would be out in a few months and that things were going better than she could expect so far. As for working with the guy, she said he was a complete professional and that he saved is dramatic outbursts and fights for camera guys such as himself and televised award shows. The camera guy laughed, thanked her for her time and wished her a good night. From there Chloe saw the shot end with Beca giving him a small salute and Jesse leading her away. Everything else she found was pretty vague. It seemed the DJ, though gaining more popularity, stayed away from the limelight as much as possible. Chloe liked the sound of that. She hoped that meant Beca was as laid back and grounded as she seemed on the plane, other than when she was stammering to ask her out.

In the back of the apartment she heard the buzzing of Aubrey's alarm sounding. She closed her laptop and got up to get the food plated for them both, carbonara for Aubrey and lasagna for herself. She took out the breadsticks the restaurant gave her and put them in a bowl with a towel over them to keep them soft. She also got salads bowled and poured the wine.

When Aubrey came in rubbing her eyes, still in her pajamas she took one look at her flatmate smiling brightly back at her behind the table in full dinner display and turned back around to go to her bedroom.

Chloe furrowed her eyebrows. "Aubrey? What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. I am just figuring this is a meal that I should actually have pants on for. I clearly missed the memo. I thought we might have pizza on the couch or something but you have the table all set up and I can already tell you cleaned. I will be right back, fully clothed and then we eat and we talk."

Chloe laughed as she watched her retreating flatmate go back into her room, realizing now that Aubrey was wearing her super short sleep shorts which only Chloe got the privilege to see her in. No one else would even believe they existed in the uptight blonde's wardrobe.

Coming back in wearing jeans and a blue and white striped top, Aubrey sat down at her usual place taking in the full set up. "Wow, Chloe. Is this a practice run for the date tomorrow? Are you that nervous you need to practice on me? I would like to remind you I don't kiss on the first date no matter how nice this spread is. You may have to talk to Stacie if you're looking for the full experience." The blonde placed her napkin across her lap and mixed up her salad, spreading the dressing more.

Chloe smiled back at her grabbing her wine glass and leaning forward to bring the glass to the middle. Aubrey brought hers up to the middle as well. "To the best flatmate I could have asked for. To safe and painless flights in the future and more good times," Chloe toasted.

"To no extra reports, no rude passengers, no crazy kids who won't stay buckled no matter what you tell them or bribe them with, and to a crazy roommate who I wouldn't ever trade," Aubrey toasted back.

The girls clicked their glasses together and drank the wine. Aubrey put her glass down and began to get some pasta on her fork. "So, before we get to the juicy stuff, how have you been? Have the rest of your flights been okay?"

Chloe swallowed her first bit of lasagna. "Yeah, they were fine. I had one with Lily that was a bit scary but only because of her."

"You know, we have to do something about her. She's just creepy! I don't know how she has lasted this long." Aubrey grabbed for the basket of bread offering Chloe a piece first and then taking one for herself.

"I think she's good enough. She's kind of funny if you can actually have a conversation with her. She seems to just get in these moods where she mumbles to herself but she snaps out of it to handle the flight."

"Whatever you say, I just think one day we will have a risk on the plan and it won't be from terrorist threats it will be because she finally lit something on fire somehow."

The girls continued their conversation through the meal about their flights, the other FAs, some of the flight deck guys and girls. Finally when Chloe was sopping up her left over pasta sauce with a piece of her breadstick, Aubrey finally got to the topic she had been anticipating.

"So. Beca?" Aubrey leaned back in her chair watching Chloe's actions. She had wanted to wait to have this conversation when she could watch Chloe's reactions to her questions. Chloe was a horrible liar even though she thought otherwise. Her body language always gave her away but Aubrey had always kept Chloe's tells to herself just simply calling the redhead out on her lies when she felt she needed to. It wasn't that Chloe tried to lie to her often but when she did it was almost humorous to Aubrey more than anything else.

Chloe finished chewing her bite and looked up at Aubrey who was resting back in her chair with her wine glass idly resting in her hand while she looked back at her. "Well, you remember the New York flight, right? And that group up in business class?"

Aubrey tilted her head to the side a bit as she remembered the group Chloe was referring to. "The group with Cynthia Rose? Yeah, what about them?"

"Beca was actually part of that group."

The blonde thought back to that flight. She remembered only two younger girls in front aside from Cynthia Rose. There was the loud blonde and the quiet alt girl sitting across the aisle from her. Aubrey connected with those blue eyes across the table from her. "Tell me you are talking about the blonde."

"Actually,…" but before Chloe could get any further she heard her phone go off. "Hold that thought. Beca was suppose to get a hold of me about tomorrow before she got on her flight."

Aubrey watched and the redhead ran off to her room and drank the rest of her wine and reached to fill her glass up again. She had the feeling she was going to need this next glass and maybe the one that followed it.

* * *

Chloe reached her phone and hit the answer button. "Hey, Beca!"

"Hey, you! Sorry, we were running late to the airport so I'm actually boarding soon. I can't talk too long. I wanted to see if tomorrow night around seven would work for you. You said you had a flight the next afternoon so I didn't want to keep you out too late."

"Yeah, that will work great but you make me sound like I'm going to turn into a pumpkin if I stay out too late or something."

"Well, I do picture you as the Disney princess type. Maybe I don't want to have to wander around town with a glass slipper looking for you. People's feet kind of gross me out."

Chloe chuckled into the phone. "No, it's fine and very thoughtful. I won't really be able to drink though. I hope that's okay?"

"So you're telling me I can't get you drunk and have my way with you? Maybe we should postpone this little get together then."

Chloe loved how deadpanned the girl could sound when she already knew the girl was completely joking. She bet the girl was even a shade of red while she tried to flirt. She sighed into the phone. "Well, if that is how you feel I understand. Maybe I can check if Aubrey is available then. I don't think she has a flight."

"Your blonde plane nazi? No thank you. I think I can survive a night with a sober you just fine. So I'll pick you up around seven?"

Chloe figured she would save divulging the fact that Aubrey was her flatmate for a later conversation. "That sounds good. What should I wear? What are we doing?"

At this Chloe heard a bit of a pause and what sounded like Beca covering up the phone and talking to someone. Then she heard Beca get back on the line. "Well, I'm sure whatever you wear will be fine but maybe a little dressy would be best? And don't eat beforehand."

"Alright. I'll text you my address in a bit then," Chloe said as she could hear boarding announcements in the background. "Have a good flight. Mind your flight attendants. I don't want to hear about you and your friends from a friend of mine."

"Wow, I didn't realize it before but you basically have spies watching me now. Kind of creepy…hey, I know this is kind of random but I have to ask because I feel silly not knowing. What's your last name?"

Chloe smiled at the question. She needed to get use to how cute the other girl seemed to her if she was going to keep things from being awkward tomorrow. "Beale. My name is Chloe Beale."

"Beale. Chloe Beale. I like it. Compliment your parents for me."

At this the redhead shook her head and chuckled again. "You are kind of strange, Beca Mitchell. Cute, but strange. Now get on your flight and don't forget to turn off your phone. I will see you tomorrow."

"Looking forward to it, Chloe Beale. Have a good night."

* * *

Chloe hung up the phone but brought it down and tapped it on her chin as she bit her bottom lip. She hugged her other arm across her stomach. She stood that way for a bit replaying her conversations with Beca to date seeing how much she had already gotten more comfortable with the idea of Beca and her before she could hear Aubrey calling from the table. When she came back into the room she saw Aubrey had started clearing the table.

Once they finished clearing off the table and put the dishes away, Aubrey sat back in her chair with her wine. "So, you were saying?"

Chloe settled in her chair as well, leaning forward on the table bringing her hands together rubbing her thumbs together. "Beca is actually the other girl with Cynthia Rose. The dark haired girl."

"The tiny, dark haried, alternative girl. The one with more make up on her eyes that day than you usually wear in a month. That girl?"

Chloe had expected such a reaction. Beca was definitely not the type of person Aubrey would be caught dead associating with. One of the reasons Aubrey made such a great FA is that she didn't have to work hard on that persona. She believed in looking pristine and oozing manners and charm all the time. She considered classic beauty the only real type of beauty out there. It wasn't that she would be outwardly mean to anyone during a flight but she wasn't totally above judging solely on looks at first glance. Her upbringing definitely made her kind of a snob but Chloe liked to think she had been slowly loosening the girl up.

"That would be Beca. Like I said, she's really nice, Aubrey. She's in the music scene here and working with Cynthia Rose so she has to be pretty good at it. And she was even thoughtful about the time of the date tomorrow because I have a flight Sunday." Chloe defended the other girl but making sure her voice was still upbeat letting Aubrey know she didn't feel attacked yet.

Aubrey looked back at the girl across from her. She could tell Chloe was nervous about what she would say as she played with her fingers. Thinking back on the flight she tried to remember more about the girl that Chloe somehow got tangled up with. There was nothing else that really stood out about her. Her friends were loud but she just seemed to blend in the background. Aside from her rough looks there didn't seem to be anything special about her. She definitely didn't seem like the kind of girl Chloe would go out with though.

"How did this even happen? She didn't really scream approachable on the plane. And she isn't someone who I would picture you with at all. You two are like complete opposites. You're all sunshine and rainbows. She's all thunder clouds and rain. Does she even smile?"

Chloe couldn't help and think about one of her favorite quotes as Aubrey pointed out how different the two girls were from each other, as if she didn't already know. "'A fish and a bird may indeed fall in love, but where shall they live?'"

"Wait, falling in love? I thought you said this was just a date? Where are you two going anywhere, some rave?"

"You know what I mean Aubrey and you know where that's from. It is just a date. And we talked during the flight and then she gave me her number and asked if I wouldn't mind hanging out. It was sweet. I don't know what we're doing yet but I'm pretty sure a rave is not in the plans though I wouldn't mind some fun with glowsticks." Chloe looked her friend dead in the eye when she responded. She wasn't going to let Aubrey talk her out of this or make her doubt her decision to see this through. The more she talked with Beca the more confident she became in her decision and everyone who knew Chloe knew that when she set her mind on something, she saw it through until the end.

Aubrey sighed and took another drank. She looked over at the still calm redhead, her gaze not wavering from Aubrey. She knew that look from Chloe. It didn't matter what she said at this point, the date was going to happen. "Okay, it's just a date. Just. Be safe, you know? Don't let her get you into any trouble. And you are to let me know where you are at all times. I don't want you getting hurt again and this girl screams 'pain and angst' all over, like a flashing neon sign."

Chloe smiled, stood up and came around to Aubrey's side, bending down to sidle up behind the girl's chair and wrapping her arms around her and giving her a hug. With her cheek pressed against Aubrey's she said, "I know you worry, Bree. It will be fine. You'll see. In the mean time, how about we watch something on tv? Your pick, though I have to tell you Dancing With the Stars wasn't all that great. Your dancer fe…"

Aubrey broke free from the embrace. "Chloe! Spoilers much?!"

Chloe smiled as the blonde girl wandered over to the couch. She grabbed her glass of wine and joined her as they settled in their usual positions on the opposing sides of the couch with their feet mingling in the middle. Chloe knew they were fine and bet in an hour or so she could spring a cuddle attack without too much fuss.

* * *

Beca hung up her phone and slid it into her backpack's front pocket.

"How did it go?" Jesse asked as he approached the girl. She had made him leave to make the phone call initially but saw she had to grab Amy near the end of it.

"It was fine. It would have been a lot better if I didn't look like an idiot when she asked what she should wear. I had to ask Amy first. I can't believe she won't even tell me what the plan is. What am I suppose to say tomorrow when Chloe asks me where were going after I pick her up?"

"Just tell her it is a surprise. Just leave out the part that it will be a surprise to you as well. Maybe we can keep trying to get Amy to spill during the flight." The two started to make their way to the ground crew's podium, tickets in hand.

"You heard her. She is not telling anything until it is absolutely needed. I can't think of anything else to do try to get her to tell. I even threatened to fire her and she said to go ahead because if I did then I definitely wouldn't find out." Beca handed her ticket to the smiling guy collecting them and smiled back quickly as he thanked her. She suddenly felt like she had to be super nice to anyone with a Bella logo on them.

"Well, just approach it as an adventure then. Once you survive I'm sure you'll have a great story to share." Jesse dodged Beca's swatting hand as he laughed walking through the bridge.

While on the bridge Beca smiled and said "Chloe Beale."

Jesse nodded and repeated the name to himself. "It's nice. And now you're almost past one night stand level. Congratulations."

Cynthia Rose watched as the two got into a challenge of kicking the other in the butt by crossing their far leg behind the other and swinging the foot upward. "You two never stop, do you?"

Jesse smiled his boyish smile back at her. "All part of the charming package you signed up for, CR." The boy came up and wrapped his arm around the other woman but not before landing a kick against Beca's butt before boarding.


	10. Ready or Not

"Beca, just calm down. Everything is all set. All you need to do is go, pick up your lady love and enjoy yourself."

"In a limo? A limo Amy? I don't want to look like some pretentious asshat who signed this big music deal and gets an ego the size of…well...this car! Can't we can't something else?" Beca pleaded with her assistant as she took in the black limo pulled up in front of her place.

"I don't know Beca, it's kind of sweet. It's pretty tricked out in here," Jesse shouted out to the girls on the street and he bounced up and down, testing out the seats of the limo.

"Beca, this isn't some crazy, supped up, rim spinning, my daddy is P-Diddy, Escalade looking limo. This is classy. This is memorable. This is your ride for the night and you don't really have a say in it because I already paid Franky." Amy nodded friendly over to the driver donned in a dark suit, sunglasses, and a black driver's cap over his nicely slicked hair who was standing by the driver side door waiting for Beca to get in and settled so they could get the evening started.

Sighing the brunette looked the car over again. It wasn't too horrible. Amy was right, it could definitely be worse. And it could be kind of fun.

"And you didn't stock it with alcohol, right? She can't drink tonight. I don't want her to feel like it's a big deal so no bucket of champagne or anything." Beca moved towards the back door and watched as Jesse tested out each seat and the light settings. She couldn't help but shake her head at the guy who reverted back to a five year old when he got excited about things.

"Nope, you have some ice, San Pellegrinos, Lorinas, water, soda of any kind, and if you're feeling really fancy you can mix her a Shirley Temple back there," Amy replied noticing Beca's eyebrow quirk at the last drink option. "Now you've got me feeling like I'm sending you off to the prom. No more questions. Franky knows where he's going and what times so he's in charge really. Jesse, stop goofing around and get out."

Jesse stopped fiddling with all the buttons he saw and slid out the door. He pulled Beca over to the side a bit further from Amy and rested his arms on her shoulders, looking Beca in the eyes as she stood across from him stiffly with her arms flat at her sides. "You are going to have fun tonight. I don't care whatever crazy plans Amy has made for you." Both ignored the "oye" that Amy tossed at them. "You deserve to have fun. I'm sure Chloe deserves to have fun too. Don't be the closed off Beca Mitchell. Be the Beca Mitchell that charmed that super hot girl into agreeing to go out with the super dork that is you."

Beca blinked back at Jesse as he gave her a final shake and pat on the forearm. "Wow. Okay. Not sure where to go with that one. We kind of took a left turn into 'I can't believe Chloe actually said yes-ville' at the end there."

"Yeah, it wasn't one of my best but you know what I mean, Beca. There was a reason she said yes. You know you can be awesome just don't over analyze things. Roll with the punches. And I'd recommend being nice to Franky. If he's a friend of Amy's, who knows what crazy shit he's into," Jesse said, ending in a whisper just for Beca to hear. They both look at Amy and Franky who appeared to be comparing bicep sizes now.

Beca's eyebrows raised and nodded. "Duly noted."

"Alright pint size, let's get your show on the road. Don't worry about being out too late, you've got a good schedule that everyone is going to adhere to," Amy said as she came over to guide Beca into the limo. "You look good, shorty. Chloe will be impressed. And you will have a good time, I promise."

Beca looked down at the outfit that had taken her and ultimately one of Cythnia Rose's stylists to pick out when Beca thought she was going to have a melt down and cancel the whole thing. They decided to let her still be her slightly alternative self but in black tights, a charcoal gray dress that was form fitting and felt like jersey cotton with the exception of the area showing a little cleavage through a black nylon section at the top of the dress all topped off with one of her many leather jackets but this particular one was fitted more like a woman's suit jacket for some flair. Of course Beca wouldn't accept any footwear other than a pair of her black lace up boots. In this case, everyone else agreed with her selection. She felt a little awkward but with all the compliments she got so far she was feeling more confident. The big one was from Cynthia Rose herself who popped by the studio right before Beca left to finish getting ready at her place. CR didn't usually hassle her about her style because she would never try to control an artist like that, but it did mean something if she'd go out of her way to compliment an outfit of Beca's and she gave her approval on this one saying it was very "Beca-chic". One more confirmation couldn't hurt though.

"We are sure the dress isn't too much? The girls feel kind of exposed," Beca asked looking down at her chest.

"Beca, you look gorgeous. You will knock her socks off. Now get in the car, woman!" Jesse said poking Beca so she dodged him but moved towards the limo.

"Yeah, and it won't matter in a bit anyway," Amy said manning the door to shut Beca in.

Beca gave Fat Amy a strange look but before she could even ask, Amy shut the door as soon as Beca slid her legs in.

She found herself on her way to see Chloe again for the first time since their flight together.

"Ready or not, here we go."

* * *

"Aubrey, for serious, help me with this zipper! I do not want to get my hair caught in this thing!"

"Twenty five years old and can't dress herself. Are you sure, we should be letting you go out on a date, young lady?" Aubrey made her way into Chloe's room which was covered in clothes tossed from dressers and closets. Shoes pointed up and out every which way on the floor.

Chloe could practically see the cringe make its way across Aubrey's face as she looked back at her through the mirror, holding the zipper as far up as she could make it on her own. "Here, I'll get my hair out of harm's way. Little less lip and a bit more zip from you, please."

"Dr. Seuss would be proud, dear," Aubrey teased in a baby voice as she zipped up Chloe's soft yellow dress. The dress itself had natural "winkles" as it settled on her body. Chloe loved this Erin Fetherston dress but she loved the cropped blazer she wore with it more. It looked like a gray, cloudy sky and Chloe always thought it very fitting for her. She finished the outfit off with a pair of strappy black patent Jimmy Choo sandals and drop earrings with a few stacked bangles on her left wrist. She let her hair down in its natural curls which always concerned Chloe when around zippers. Aubrey always teased her but Chloe would remind her that her fear of her hair getting caught in the zipper could happen and in fact had happen already in her lifetime. She walked around for weeks with a chunk of her hair missing in 5th grade because of such a misfortune.

Once zipped up, Chloe quickly turned to give Aubrey a kiss on the cheek, making sure to leave a lip print much to Aubrey's annoyance. She grabbed her black clutch with a few minutes to spare.

"Now remember, you let me know where you are at all times. I don't need some crazy hobbit trying to kidnap you. It will be hell trying to find another flatmate this time of year."

Chloe rolled her eyes but grinned at her friend. "Yes, mom."

"Good. Now have fun, but not too much fun. No sleepovers. Make good choices."

At this Chloe couldn't hold back her laughter. "Oh, Bree, we need to get you laid."

Aubrey's jaw dropped and didn't get a chance to respond before the melody of "Titanium" floated through the air. Chloe answered with a big smile. "Right on time, someone is going for bonus points."

Beca didn't bother hiding her smile in the limo with the divider up blocking Franky's view. "I read somewhere that punctuality was a big deal to flight attendants. I thought I'd give it a whirl."

Chloe was already feeling the tingling sensation in her chest that seemed to become more frequent when talking with Beca. So, she had researched flight attendants, and took notes apparently. Adorable. "Your sources are correct, Ms. Mitchell. I'll meet you downstairs, okay?"

"I'll be here. You can't really miss me."

* * *

Chloe came down the stairs in her building to be greeted by a grinning Beca Mitchell leaning against a shiny, black limo. At first she couldn't decide what shocked her more, the ride or how Beca looked. Definitely how Beca looked. She still had her own style but it was glammed up. She loved how Beca's hair was down and kind of curly in the front and the back was down the same except she could see some braids or twists peaking out near the top in the back. And that dress. Chloe hadn't really gotten a chance to appreciate certain…aspects…of Beca which she was able to now.

"Wow. I…just wow. That's all I've got right now," Chloe said approaching the shorter girl and not hesitating to pull her into a hug.

Beca hugged Chloe back, not really expecting a hug right away but definitely not against the idea. "So you like the ride, huh? It's got you speechless and everything?"

Chloe pulled back from the brunette and gave her a wink. "Who said I was wowing the limo? You look beautiful, Beca."

And just like that, when Beca thought she was being smooth and was going to have to give Amy a raise just for coming up with the limo, Beca felt her face flush and mind go blank. "Ah…thank…thank you." She heard a giggle from the other girl and she looked up at Chloe to see her beaming back at her.

"Who's speechless and everything now, Mitchell?"

Beca had no come back but simply grinned and held the door open, motioning for Chloe to enter the limo. "Your chariot, m'lady."

The two girls got in the back and felt Franky start to drive off. Chloe looked around and took in the ambiance of the car. The lighting around the top was on but dimmed. The accent lights around the sides were on highlighting the extensive beverage and snack area. Up front there was a television that wasn't turned on. The divider to the front was up. There were all sorts of buttons and controls on Beca's side.

"Well, in case it didn't come across yet, I am very impressed so far," Chloe said looking over at Beca who had slid in after Chloe making sure to keep a comfortable distance between the two of them. "Is this your own personal limo you have all the time or…"

"No, I'm not one of those girls. I mean I've ridden in them a few times to some events and stuff but it's not a regular thing for me," Beca said twisting her fingers together trying to keep her nerves in check. "This…this was a special occasion. And in case I haven't mentioned it yet, you look…you look…"

Chloe watched as the other girl struggled to find the right word she wanted to use. Her eyebrows went up in amusement as she waited.

Sighing, Beca gave up trying for something poetic. "You look really, really nice. Really."

The girls looked at each other when Beca brought her gave up. Internally Beca was smacking her forehead. Externally Chloe gave Beca a big smile back. "Thank you, Beca. I appreciate that."

Trying to dig herself out of her awkward hole before it swallowed her completely, Beca leaned forward to the bar area. "Would you like something to drink? There's a little bit of everything here. And I think we've got some time to kill until we get…there."

Moving forward to get a closer look at the selection. "Woo, Lorina pink lemonade. Have you had that before?"

Beca grabbed the bottle and filled two glasses of the drink. "I haven't but I would love to try it with you." Beca handed one of the glasses over to Chloe.

The girls looked at each other for a bit, simply holding their glasses in the air next to each other. Beca would love to admit she was again trying to think of something elegiac to say but really she just found herself lost in Chloe's eyes. Even with the lights dimmed, they had their own brightness that drew you into them.

Though Chloe didn't think the silence was an uncomfortable one, she brought her glass to Beca's, breaking the silence with the clinking sound. "To trying new things."

It was the most fitting toast Beca felt she had ever been a part of. On the surface you could think Chloe was referring to her trying Lorina with her but she got the feeling Chloe wasn't just an 'on the surface' kind of girl. Beca was pretty sure she…that this they were trying… was a 'new thing' to Chloe. "To trying new things."

Both girls sipped their drinks and leaned back into the seats. Beca couldn't help but notice Chloe had shifted a little closer to her in the process. Again, not an unwelcomed action.

"So, Beca, where are we going tonight? The only way to avoid Aubrey chipping me or slipping a tracking device in my bag was to let her know where we were headed at some point."

Here was one of the few moments Beca was not looking forward to this evening. She had been debating whether or not to play it off as a surprise to Chloe and make it seem like she knew the whole time like Jesse suggested or should she lay all her cards out on the table and tell her the truth. Since she didn't feel at ease starting…whatever this was going to be with Chloe…with lies she took a deep breath and prepared to bite the bullet.

"I'm actually not entirely sure."

That was unexpected to say the least. For the first time this evening the smile on Chloe's face faltered. "What do you mean you're not sure? We are kind of in a moving vehicle, Beca. It kind of has to end up somewhere, right?"

Taking another deep breath, Beca began. "To make a long and somewhat weird story short, Amy took charge of planning this date. I wish I could take all the credit for this evening but I can't. I can only really claim full responsibility for the boots I'm wearing. That was my idea entirely. I had help with just about everything else." Beca tried to stop rambling before she said too much. She tried to read Chloe's expression which was now a blank slate looking back at her. Beca shifted gears to damage control mode. "It's not that I didn't want to or that I couldn't plan the date, it's just Fat Amy just went off and started planning as soon as I told her and Jesse about you agreeing to go out. I'm usually a pretty self sufficient person in most areas but I think they knew I was really nervous about this and wanted to help out. They are all pretty great like that. Even Jesse was trying to give me different pick up lines from movies but don't worry because I wasn't planning on using them. I was mostly just amusing him. I'm really sorry if this all sounds bad. I really…"

"Beca, breathe. " Chloe watched as the girl stopped talking long enough to draw in a deep breath and release it, relaxing her shoulders as well. "Good.," she said as she gently rubbed Beca's forearm. "I'm not upset about how this date was arranged. I think it's sweet that you were trying so hard but I hope you didn't feel like you had to with me. I do love going out and being fancy sometimes but I'm just as happy in a pair of jeans going to the pizza place down the block."

Beca finally felt her stomach settle back in its normal position after jumping up to her throat. "I just really wanted not to screw up and while there is a high potential of craziness happening with Amy planning something, I just felt like she might do a better job this time so I didn't stop her. You seemed unsure about me still and like I said, I wanted to impress you enough for you to stick around and let me actually plan something. So maybe pizza next time, if this goes well?" Keeping her head ducked as she swirled the ice in her drink nervously she brought her eyes up to look at Chloe.

Chloe wasn't sure what kind of super adorable powers this girl had but it was working on her. Normally she would be disappointed that her date couldn't even take the time to arrange their plans but with Beca she found herself not only willing to let it go but really did find it sweet that she was working so hard to convince Chloe she was worth more than one date. Chloe leaned over and bumped Beca's shoulder lightly. "Hey, don't be stealing my future date ideas, Mitchell."

Beca bumped Chloe back feeling even more relief come over her from her confession. "Wouldn't dream of it, Beale."

Chloe grinned back at her, happy that Beca seemed more at ease now. "By the way, the boots definitely make the outfit. Good choice."

If Beca wasn't Beca Mitchell, she might have reached over and given Chloe Beale the biggest hug she had ever given anyone after hearing that. But, being Beca Mitchell, instead she gave Chloe a wink and clinked their glasses together again.


	11. A Shot in the Dark

Chapter 11

"So, you have to tell me now, where did you send Beca and Chloe?" Jesse asked as he put his legs up on the table in front of him while settling into his brown, aged couch.

Amy settled into a non-matching blue recliner, pulling the lever to bring out the footrest. "Well, the way I figured it, Beca has issues with being self conscience and getting nervous and twitchy like a rabbit tweaking out. I helped her be a little less self conscience."

Jesse, trying to keep an eye on the tv which was showing one of the many Fast and Furious movies which Amy selected for them to watch, did a side glance over at the blonde. "I'm not even going to try to figure out how that answers where you sent them."

"I sent them to Opaque. Beca won't get all nervous with how hot Chloe is. Chloe won't see Beca blush or fidget or at the other end of the spectrum, roll her eyes. It's a win, win for Beca. And if she wants to avoid talking about herself, they will have plenty to talk about when they can't see what the hell they are eating, drinking, or doing."

After several beats, Jesse let out a thoughtful 'huh'. "You know, it actually makes sense. She's still going to want to kill you of course, but when you put it that way, it makes sense."

"Duh. I'm a genius. I use to run the best dating service in Tasmania but I had to shut it down because all the clients wanted to get with my sexy ass instead of each other," Amy replied, never taking her eyes off Vin Diesel.

Jesse chuckled to himself, especially when he heard Amy mummer something about being able to get with Vin, Paul, or Channing, no problem.

* * *

Aubrey ran to pick up the ringing phone by the couch. "Hello?"

"Oh… hey Aubrey. Is Chloe there?" Stacie asked, mentally cursing when she heard the blonde pick up the phone.

"Sorry, Stacie, she's out tonight."

Instantly interested, Stacie didn't care it was the uptight blonde on the other end of the phone. "Wait, Chloe's on a date? Is it with that hot little broody brunette? Did I miss them going to get coffee?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes. Of course Stacie found Beca's 'alternativeness' attractive as well. "No, they didn't do coffee. Beca just asked her out to dinner instead."

"Damn, straight to the point. I like this girl. I'm glad Chloe didn't freak anymore and agreed to go out. Where are they at? What are they doing?"

"I don't know yet. Beca didn't tell Chloe before they went and Chloe hasn't messaged to tell me yet. Beca just picked her up about half an hour ago though."

"A surprise date, that's kind of romantic. Something Chloe would totally love."

Aubrey could practically hear the swoon coming from the other end of the line. "Yeah, romantic. Or the perfect set up to kidnap Chloe and use her skin as lampshades."

"Ew, Posen. You need to get out more. It's romantic. Put your over protective, over active mind back down into normal person mode for a bit. Your flatmate is fine and is probably having a great time."

After a beat and noticing that Stacy wasn't as eager to get off the phone with her as usual Aubrey decided to continue the conversation. "Well, don't tell Chloe this but I was looking out from the window when she went down. I wasn't able to make out too much but Beca picked her up in a limo."

"See! Totally romantic. Chloe is probably on cloud nine right now. Douche bag Tom didn't do anything to try and impress her and this girl seems to be putting it all out there on date one. About time she found someone to woo her."

Aubrey stayed silent because deep down she didn't want to agree with Stacie even though she knew everything she was saying was true. She definitely wasn't all Team Beca yet but she could tell Stacie would be making "I ship Bechloe" shirts and "Team Beca" stickers in the near future if all kept going well. As she was about to respond, she felt her cell buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out and slid her thumb over the screen to get her message.

Aubrey's eyes took in the words typed across the screen. "Oh. My God."

Stacie got nervous hearing Aubrey's sudden change of tone. "What? What's wrong?"

"She took her to Opaque. She effing took her to Opaque!" Aubrey closed her eyes and took deep, calming breaths.

"Ah crap. And she was doing so well. I'm going to let you go, Aubrey. Let me know when Chloe gets home and I'll stop by for support or whatever she needs."

"Will do. Bye, Stacie."

* * *

During the rest of the drive the girls talked about random current events that were going on in the news.

"I can't believe he blamed oral sex! I mean, first, more than I ever wanted to know about the man and second, way to throw your wife under the bus, guy!"

Beca kept laughing as Chloe got fired up about the topic they were discussing. She loved how animated Chloe got when talking and telling stories.

Both girls got quiet when they felt the limo roll to a stop. A few seconds later they heard the driver door open and shut. Then, the door by Beca opened and Franky was there greeting them with a smile that didn't quite look natural on his hardened face. "Here we are, ladies."

Beca smiled and nodded at him slightly as she carefully slid out of the limo. She turned and offered her hand to Chloe as she stepped up onto the sidewalk. Chloe smiled broadly at the act of chivalry from the smaller girl and took the offered hand assisting her out. As soon as she was able to pull her eyes away from her date she took in her surroundings. She felt her stomach drop to her knees when she saw where they were.

"Oh goodness."

Beca looked at Chloe's face which was transfixed on the glass door a few feet ahead of them where "Opaque Dining in the Dark" was frosted onto it.

"Oh, I've seen stuff about this place. I've never been here though. Is…is everything okay? Do you want to go somewhere else? We totally don't have to eat here if you don't like it." Beca felt herself slide into damage control mode again.

Chloe sighed because no matter how much of an issue she was having with this surprise, she couldn't help but recognize how adorable Beca was when she was bordering on frantic. The girl was practically falling over herself to please Chloe in any way she could.

"No, it's fine, Beca. I just need to shoot Aubrey a quick text and let her know where we are. She may send the hounds soon if it don't." Chloe didn't wait for Beca to comment before she turned and walked away towards the end of the street. She took out her phone and found Aubrey in her contacts. Chloe tried to calm her racing heart by breathing in through her nose and out her mouth. Her text was simple. 'Just arrived at restaurant. Eating at Opaque.' Part of her knew Aubrey would freak when she read it but she shut her eyes, took a few more breaths, and turned her phone off. Chloe was a big girl. Chloe could handle herself just fine.

Beca looked on as she watched the redhead on her phone. She was facing away from Beca so she couldn't really see her face. Something was definitely up though. Even someone as oblivious as Beca could tell Chloe's reaction was less than joyous upon seeing where they were. Beca crossed her arm across her stomach to hold onto her other arm by her elbow. As she started to look around to see where else they could walk to instead of the intended restaurant, Chloe came back and stood in front of her.

"Alright, ready?"

Beca looked back at the other girl who now had a smile plastered across her face. Beca tilted her head a bit to as she took in the expression which was clearly being forced. Again, she may be oblivious sometimes but she hasn't seen this look on Chloe's face, even when just standing greeting passengers as the boarded or left the plane.

"I'm ready. I'm not so sure you are though. Are you okay? I mean, you kind looked a little freaked for a bit and now look a little Stepford. Did I miss a Chloe body swap? And really, we can go anywhere around here. This was just Amy's idea. If you're not feeling it, I'll go in and let them know and we can go wherever looks good."

Chloe's fake smile changed a bit as a real one came back through. "Here is fine, really. I just…you know what, let's go inside and we can talk about it."

The two women entered the restaurant. After finding the reservation for Mitchell, the hostess went through her whole spiel about how they would be embarking into a world of sensitivity by dining in complete darkness being guided and served by individuals who were blind or visually impaired. Beca nodded along as Chloe just smiled back at the girl. They entered another area where they perused the menu and picked their appetizers and entrees. Chloe had an idea at the last second that the girls should pick the others dessert as a surprise to end the meal. Beca loved that Chloe was starting to get into the idea of what they were going to and readily agreed, whispering to the waiter that Chloe should have the Mango Panna Cotta.

After they gave up their bags and jackets to the workers, they sat a bit waiting for their name to be called to go eat. They didn't even have time to strike up a conversation before a waiter announced their name. Steve was going to be their guide for the evening. It appeared Steve was fully blind. He asked Beca to place her hand on his shoulder as he would guide them to their table. As she did so, she felt Chloe place her hand on Beca's shoulder and step extremely close behind her, placing the other hand on her waist. Normally Beca might have really enjoyed this contact from her date but she couldn't help but notice how cold and clammy Chloe's grip was. It was also pretty tight on her. Her concern was she knew that Chloe's grip earlier wasn't ever that way before. If she wasn't certain something was up before, she knew there was now.

As Steve led the way to their table, Beca couldn't believe how incredibly dark this place was. She thought her eyes may adjust to it but there was really nothing to adjust to. Pitch black was the perfect description of the room as she tried not to fumble into anyone or anything. Steve gave them both encouraging and directive support as he guided them into this new environment. Chloe didn't get an inch further from Beca as they walked to their table. She could feel the girl's warm breath on the back of her neck, creating goose bumps in its wake. As they settled into each of the chairs Steve guided them too, Chloe scooted her chair as close to Beca as possible.

Beca could feel the tension rolling off the other girl. She tried to think how best to approach the situation without making the other girl too embarrassed. "Uh, Chloe, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but, if you want to sit on my lap, all you have to do is ask. I wouldn't mind."

Beca felt the ice around them crack just a bit.

"Haha, very funny, Mitchell. Just because they can't see us doesn't make that any more appropriate in public," Chloe joked back and tried to move her chair to give Beca some room but she felt a hand on her forearm stopping her motions. She let a squeak and tensed all over.

Beca let all jokes be set aside. "Whoah, hey, it's just me. You're fine where you are, no worries. Are you sure you're okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Chloe swallowed thickly as she willed her heart back from its current jack hammer pace. "Okay. Honestly?"

"Yeah, of course." Beca kept her hand on Chloe's arm and rubbed her thumb over Chloe's skin to try and comfort the girl without freaking her out again.

"I have issues with the dark."

Beca tried to keep her thumb going in a steady motion but she was sure it paused half of a beat when she heard Chloe's confession. "Issues. Like, you're afraid of the dark?"

Chloe let out a short laugh. "Way to make me sound like a four year old, Beca. No, not quite like that. I mean, I have issues seeing in the dark anyway. It takes my eyes longer to adjust than others would so dark places kind of freak me out more than they probably should. I wish I had some traumatic story to tell you about being locked up someplace for a long time when I was little to back my fear up but I don't, at least not that I know of. Feel free to laugh. I know how silly it sounds."

Beca shook her head and then realized of course that Chloe couldn't see her reaction. She had to use her words tonight. "If I see a clown, even a mile away, I will turn around and walk the other way."

Chloe couldn't help the giggle that escaped out of her mouth. She quickly covered her mouth to keep from repeating the action.

The tiny brunette grinned at hearing Chloe's laugh. She decided to continue. "This one time, Jesse was absolutely obsessed with going to this carnival that was going on in the town next to us and he begged me for weeks to go before it had even arrived. When it finally did I agree and there was a clown greeter at the gates, I refused to go in and stayed in the car listening to music while he called anyone he could think of that might be there to join up with their group."

Chloe could picture a little Beca doing something so stubborn as sitting in the car to avoid something she didn't like. "Oh, Beca. That's…that's kind of funny but adorable. How old were you?"

"Seventeen."

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip to keep from laughing again. Not quite the vision she had initially but this new vision was even funnier. She loved the fact Beca was putting herself out there for her. "Probably not something you share on every first date, huh?"

"Not unless you plan on taking me to Ringling Brothers, no. But really, we can leave. I have no problem going somewhere else. I don't want you to have a horrible time because of this."

Feeling for Beca's hand that was still on her arm, she took it in hers. She held it and gave it a squeeze. "I will be fine. You're here. And I promise to protect you from any clowns that may be lurking in the shadows."

Chloe felt Beca's hand tense at that thought. She heard Beca mumble something about that not being a comforting thought. She quickly brought Beca's hand up and kissed the back of it softly, then returned both hands to her lap. "We are good. We can do this."

And they did. They ate their dishes for a bit and then got adventurous as the girls took turns feeding each other food. They had to work through some difficulties finding each other's mouths but it made things pretty entertaining. At one point Beca ended up with something, she's not entirely certain what, going up her nose which made Chloe bellow with laughter and apologies. Through the meal they found a good system of talking about their actions before doing them so Chloe didn't jump the rest of the meal and both girls gave and received their own share of encouraging touches which came natural in their current environment.

When dessert came, Beca grinned proudly hearing Chloe moan after her first bite. "Oh my gosh, Beca, you have to try this. It is so good!"

"Sure. Just remember, I eat with my mouth, not my nose."

Sliding one hand across the table to find Beca's, Chloe held the fork with Panna Cotta on it. Beca stayed still as Chloe's hand traveled up her arm slowly and gently. Beca felt her pulse pick up but she was certain it had nothing to do with the upcoming dessert she was to enjoy. She felt Chloe's fingers, now warm and soft, skirt across her collar bone and up her neck. It was sweet torture for Beca as the digits made their way along Beca's jaw to the very edge of her lips, her touch leaving a searing trail behind it on Beca's skin. The thought of kissing or nibbling the fingers at her mouth ran through her mind but decided now would not be the time to scare Chloe away. A second later she felt the flaky crust of the Panna Cotta pass through her lips which she opened slightly and then felt the sweet tang of mango dance across her tongue. With her eyes closed now, Beca mirrored Chloe's earlier reaction.

Chloe beamed while she pulled the fork away slowly so Beca got all the sauce too. "I know, right? It's so good. Excellent choice, Beca."

As she finished chewing, Beca couldn't help but notice that Chloe's hand lingered along her collar bone where her dress didn't quite entirely cover her skin. All of this touching normally wouldn't have sat well with Beca but she found herself almost wanting to encourage whenever she could with Chloe. It was all very natural. Beca could only hope that was a good sign of things to come.

The girls finished their meal and thanked Steve for being a great host for the evening. After a little debate about paying the bill, Chloe relented and let Beca pay for the whole thing.

When they left the restaurant, Franky was already waiting out front with the limo door open for them. Chloe looked over at Beca with a questioning look. Beca shrugged and said, "He's either just that good or everyone really is set to a schedule tonight."

Beca let Chloe get in first and leaned over the top of the door to quietly talk to Franky. "I don't suppose you can clue me in on where we're going next? Or at least let me know we're not headed home?"

Franky's expression remained stoic as he answered with his thick European accent. "We are not going home yet, Miss Mitchell. We have one more stop that Miss Amy arranged."

"No hints, riddles, anything to go on?" Beca tried to give him what she hoped was a coy smile to try and gain some information.

The man just looked back at her but did add what she took as a slightly annoyed but probably as pleasant as she was going to get smile from the man. "I'm sorry, Miss Mitchell. Miss Amy's instructions were clear. You will be finding out soon though. We have one more stop before bringing Miss Beale home."

Beca nodded and slid in next to Chloe. The redhead quickly took Beca's hand into hers and entwined their fingers together. "That ended up being really fun, Beca. I'm happy we stuck with that place."

"Good, I was scared there for a bit and was really running through my options of what I was going to do to Amy. And while I can't say exactly where we're headed to next, I can say that the date's not over yet."

"It was never Amy's fault. Short of doing a background check, she wouldn't have known."

Chloe noticed a thoughtful look on Beca's face now.

"She didn't do a background check on me, right? She doesn't have access to do something like that, right?"

Beca let the silence hang in the air a bit more before responding carefully. "Well, let's think of it this way. If she did, no one was able to document your dislike of the dark so you won't have people using that to their advantage against you. That's pretty positive."

Chloe shook her head as she laughed. "Whatever. It worked out fine." Chloe gave Beca's hand a slight squeeze. "And I'm happy to hear the night's not over."

Beca's smile grew bigger though she fought to keep a big, stupid looking grin off her face. She failed. "You might want to be careful, Beale, saying things like that makes it seem like I'm winning you over."

Chloe sighed and looked away. "And then she opens her mouth. Moment ruined."

Beca poked at Chloe's side making her turn back towards the brunette. Neither girl had lost their smiles. Beca brought their hands up and lightly kissed the back of Chloe's hand. While the action shocked her, again, with Chloe it seemed natural, especially if it was going to cause the other girl to cuddle closer into her side the way she did this time.


	12. That Moment

As she found herself settled next to Beca still holding her hand, Chloe reflected briefly on the night so far. In just one night, Beca had made Chloe feel more taken care of and significant than her last two boyfriends put together. Now Chloe was never one of those girls to believe in the Disney fairytale kind of romance even though she seemed like the type of child who ran around in a tiara looking for her fairy godmothers and prince charming. She was an independent girl at heart who took care of herself when the boys at the playground tried to bury her Barbie dolls. She didn't think twice before holding the Hotwheels set hostage before getting Barbie back safe and sound. That didn't mean she didn't appreciate someone looking out for her and maybe trying to impress her a little. Chloe believed relationships built equally worked out the best. Before getting too deep in thought, the limo slowed to a stop and again she could hear the sounds of Franky making his way back around to their door.

When he opened the door, both girls got out of the limo taking in the scene around them. They were parked alongside a sandy path leading down to a beach area where off in the distance you could see a few families still packing up their beach ware and kids were chasing each other in the wake of the ocean.

"If you girls can be back up here in an hour, we can get Miss Chloe back home before ten," Franky said as he shut the door behind them.

Looking at each other, Beca and Chloe shrugged and headed down the path towards the beach.

"First thing is first," Beca said as she scooted herself up on a wall separating the hill from the beach. "Proper beach footwear is a must."

Chloe watched as the girl pulled off her boots and rolled up the ends of her tights so they came up mid calf. Beca looked up in time to see a small smirk on Chloe's face. "What? It's not like you're going to risk Jimmy, are you? Come on, I'll help if you need it."

Chloe grinned and leaned up against the wall next to Beca. "I was just thinking how adorable it is that you can't even touch the ground sitting on this. Don't worry, I think I can manage to get these off."

Right as she said that however, Chloe lost her balance on the one heel as she was trying to slide the other off. Beca was able to help her keep her balance but not keep the smirk off her face. "You were saying?"

Chloe rolled her eyes but thanked Beca for her help anyway. The two women walked down the beach making their way to the water's edge. The sun was setting, definitely making the scene picturesque. "So, Beca, you take all your lady friends for a long walk on the beach after your dates?"

"Ha! Yes, right after I keep them blind for a few hours. I've found I start to look better to them afterwards. I also paid for the hues in the ocean to match your hair. Do I get bonus points for that?"

The redhead laughed and watched her feet bury themselves in the sand a bit with each step she took. They were getting closer to the water so the sand was getting cooler against her bare toes.

"What are you thinking about over there, Red?" Beca asked looking over at the other girl who had a contemplative look about her at the moment. Beca couldn't decide if it was a good sign or a bad sign so she took the chance and asked.

Chloe didn't look up but could still be heard clearly. "I was just thinking about tonight. It has been a really nice night, Beca."

Beca still couldn't tell if the sentiments being said were a good thing or a bad thing. A nice evening is always good to hear but it doesn't necessarily mean there will be future nice evenings. Or maybe it wasn't even the kind of "nice evening" Chloe was looking for. "I can't tell if there is a 'but' coming up next or not."

Chloe shook her head and reached for Beca's hand, taking it in hers and clasping their fingers together. "There's no but. It has just been really nice. Thank you."

The tiny brunette was still confused by the older girl's actions. Chloe said she had a nice time, thanked her, but she still seemed…off. Beca bumped Chloe's hip with her own as she swung their hands forward. "You still seem pretty deep in thought, Miss Beale. Care to share with the class?"

At this, Chloe looked up at Beca who had been watching her since the start of the conversation. Beca now saw some cloud cover in the blue eyes looking back at her. Beca's smile faltered.

Again using small gestures to convey comfort to the younger woman, Chloe squeezed Beca's hand and gave her a close mouthed smile. "I just didn't expect tonight, that's all. I didn't expect you."

"Well, that's me all over, isn't it? The lovely, old, unexpected me."

Chloe let out a laugh, "Old? What?"

Beca ducked her head down and joined in with a laugh of her own. "Sorry, I blame Jesse. He's always quoting things, you know, shows and movies. It's rubbed off on me over the years. That's…that's from a show called Doctor Who. It's on BBC. It's a total SciFi thing and it's been around for a long time, longer than you or I have been around. We started watching when we were younger and it's just one of the few shows that have kept going. I could actually tolerate watching it instead of watching movies with Jesse so it was always our compromise. Now we watch it all the time." Beca stopped mid babble to realize that they had stopped walking and Chloe was standing closer to her now holding both of Beca's hands in hers. The sun had gotten lower but it only seemed to make Chloe's features glow brighter. Her eyes were now clear and bright again. Beca's mind went blank taking in the sight in front of her. "So…um…yeah."

"You are definitely something else, Beca Mitchell. I'm really glad you approached me on our flight, regardless of how terrified you looked. I just…I feel like there's something here, you know? I don't know how else to describe it. I want to know more about you and I'm excited about it. You're like all these mysteries bundled up in a tiny package just waiting to be discovered. I can't wait to unwrap them."

At this Beca's eyebrows shot up and a roguish smirk graced her face.

Chloe rolled her eyes and gave one of her hands a light slap. "You know what I mean, dork."

"Hey, I'm just an innocent listener. You're the one throwing out the innuendos."

"See, and again, moment ruined," Chloe continued to smile and hold onto one of Beca's hands as they continued along the water line.

Beca pulled the other girl to a stop again before they got too much farther. "Hey, I know what you mean. I'm hoping we'll get to know each other more too. I know I'm not the easiest person to get to know all the time but I will try. And you seem to already be able to get the most random things from me without even trying so that's got to say something."

"It's settled then. We'll continue to see where this goes. Deal?" Chloe brought one set of their hands into a shaking position.

"Deal," Beca said and shook on it. "And we should actually start heading back. I'm not sure what Franky would do if we got off schedule. Plus, I don't want you to be tired during your flight tomorrow."

"I will agree to head back now on one condition." Chloe brought both of their hands together between them.

Beca looked up at Chloe, amused. "You're laying down some laws already, Beale? Alright, I'll hear you out. What's your condition?"

Putting on what Beca could only describe as conspiratorial smile, Chloe answered. "That you don't waste this perfect setting and chance to avoid the awkwardness of our goodbye later."

Beca couldn't believe her ears. Was Chloe really saying what she thought she was saying? Was her luck really that good tonight? Should she go for the cheek to be safe? Did her breath smell? Oh, God she hoped her breath didn't smell.

Chloe looked back at Beca and could practically see all the thoughts, questions, and insecurities pass through her mind in the few seconds it took her to register what Chloe said. Chloe stepped up to the shorter girl leaving no room for doubt in Beca's mind of her intentions. "Beca. Just kiss me."

The brunette did not need to be told twice. Or at least outwardly told twice. She leaned up, tilting her head slightly to the right to place her lips on the soft and welcoming lips of Chloe. Her eyes fluttered shut at the contact and although she expected a dazzling display of fireworks behind her eyelids, she surprisingly was instead greeted with a warm sensation that traveled down every inch of her body like she was being developed in warm honey or wrapped in the fuzziest blanket straight from the dryer. She felt a delicate hand reach up and touch by her jaw and settle near the top of her neck as she deepened the kiss a bit more but still keeping it on the sweet side. She felt Chloe smile into the kiss so she knew she was going about things right still taking things slower but still being a little assertive. Beca settled her hands on Chloe's hips as they kissed for a few seconds more before ending it with smaller kisses and then separating their lips all together. Beca looked through her still heavy lidded eyes to now see the smile on Chloe's face as Chloe ran her thumb lightly across Beca's cheek. She wondered if Chloe could feel the temperature difference in her cheeks as she heard what Chloe said next.

"Perfect. That was perfect."


	13. Dream Weaver

Chloe shut the apartment door and leaned her back against it with a content smile on her face. Before she had time to settle herself, she felt her arm get yanked forward catapulting her body further into the apartment.

"What the hell happened, Chloe?! You tell me you're eating at the restaurant that should be your personal Hell and then you go radio silent?! You were supposed to tell me where you were at all times! I didn't know whether I should call the police, go to Opaque myself and tear the place apart, or just start trying to find out where this Beca Mitchell lived to hunt her down before she skinned you. Then you waltz in here like you just floated home. In fact, are you high right now? Did she drug you?"

Chloe couldn't get a word in during the verbal assault Aubrey was bringing down upon her. She was happy she didn't need to dodge Aubrey's hands or arms which kept their distance from Chloe but were being used to emphasize her questions and worries by flailing about between them. Finally it seemed like Aubrey was losing some steam and had to gain her breath back.

"I'm fine Aubrey. I'm sorry for worrying you but I just wanted to go through the evening without having to explain everything I did. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to worry you," Chloe said looking at Aubrey with her eyes big and genuineness oozing out of her.

That took Aubrey's final arguments away from her. How could she get upset at that face, especially when it came in so happy a few minutes ago.

"Fine. Whatever. So, how did your big date with alt girl go? Did you actually stay at Opaque?" Aubrey turned and went to settle on 'her' side of the couch while motioning for Chloe to do the same on 'her' side. Chloe's smile beamed as she quickly fell into step with the tall blonde.

Tucking her feet under her, Chloe settled in to give Aubrey all the details of her evening. Before she could start though there was a knocking at their door. The two girls looked at each other questioningly. Aubrey got up to open the door and was greeted by Stacie barreling past the blonde.

"Please, Stacie, come right in," Aubrey said waving her hand into the apartment as she shut the door while rolling her eyes. Aubrey made her way back over to the couch to see Stacie in 'her' spot. "Move," the blonde said with a steely gaze set on Stacie.

"Whatever, Sheldon," Stacie mumbled as she shifted towards the middle of the couch so the blonde could sit on the end. She turned back towards Chloe who watched the exchange trying not to laugh at the situation. "So, let's hear it. You're alive so that's better than what Aubrey assumed was going on tonight. Was she romantic? Were you swept off your feet? Paps take your pictures?"

Chloe shook her head but again started to retell the evening's events. She made it all the way through to the part where Beca walked her up to her building door promising another date soon once they figured their schedules out. Beca initiated another kiss between them and wished her a good night and good flight the next day and then stayed there to make sure Chloe got in okay before leaving.

Stacie released a sigh and looked at the redhead with doe-like eyes. "I am so jealous. She sounds awesome, Chloe. "

"Awesome? The girl couldn't even plan the date. What effort did she actually put into the date, picking the dessert?" Aubrey's lips were tight together and her brow furrowed in.

Stacie swung her head back towards Aubrey. "Seriously, Aubrey? She owned up to it. She took care of Chloe in a place she wasn't comfortable in. It sounds like she was the perfect gentlewoman throughout the night. Try to keep the jealousy in check."

Chloe tried to jump in but before she could, Aubrey responded. "Jealous? Hardly. Chloe wouldn't have been put in an uncomfortable position if it wasn't for Miss Eyeliner or her 'people' I should say. She should have just taken them to some other place but I suppose that would have meant she would have to come up with something on her own without her 'people' handling it for her. "

The redhead didn't wait any more to be heard. "Aubrey, be fair. She had no idea about my problem with the restaurant and I told her I wanted to stay. She did offer to go somewhere else and I told her it was fine. I didn't tell her until we got into the restaurant. I wanted to go through with it and she was great at handling everything. I felt fine with her and she kept me occupied and focused on things other than sitting in pitch darkness."

At this Stacie gave her a devilish grin. "She kept you occupied, huh? "Focused on 'on other things'?"

"Remove mind from gutter, Stacie, it wasn't like that at all. Like you said, she was very polite. She didn't push for anything. In fact, I probably initiated most of the contact between us now that I think about it."

"Mmmhmm, get it, girl," Stacie nodded approvingly and going in for a high five to Chloe. She turned back to Aubrey. "See, her effort was probably to keep her hands off our girl here. Knowing how Chloe is and how hot she's looking tonight, that was probably a tough job in itself."

Chloe smacked Stacie's thigh as both girls laughed. The blonde still sat shaking her head. She still did not trust this Beca at all. It seemed like Chloe was going all gooey for her way too soon. She had seen this happen to her flat mate too many times before and hoped Chloe wasn't setting herself up for another heartbreak situation. Aubrey had really thought she would be cautious going into this date but it seems the brunette's team had done a marvelous job of setting up the perfect date by putting Chloe in a vulnerable position and making Beca seem like a knight in shining armor. Not good in her books.

The blonde hadn't realized the other girls had stopped giggling and were looking at her now. "I'm waiting for the smoke to actually come out of her ears. Those gears are turning at a turbo speed pace." The blonde rolled her eyes and make a light kick towards Stacie who shifted from the contact and smiled. "Welcome back, captain. What were you thinking about over there?"

Aubrey looked back and forth between the two other girls. "I just don't want Chloe hurt again. That's all."

"Awww, Bree, I know. I will take care of myself I'm just trying to be open to this as well. Beca's really sweet. I know she doesn't really seem like she would be on the outside but I promise she is. She did nothing but try to take care of me and make sure I had a good time. And I will take things slow with her, no rushing into anything," Chloe said trying to reassure the blonde some more. She knew they would have this conversation more than once and she could only keep reassuring Aubrey until she felt comfortable of the situation.

Aubrey nodded. Stacie turned back to Chloe. "So, back to important stuff, tell us about the kisses."

Chloe wasn't sure how much she wanted to divulge about those parts of the evening.

"Spill it, Beale. Spill it or I tickle it out of you," Stacie said as she slowly made a move to advance on the redhead.

Aubrey rolled her eyes at the brunette's antics. "Just tell her Chlo, she won't leave until she hears some kind of details and we do need to get some rest tonight."

"She's right so let's hear it," Stacie nodded.

"First, let me get over the shock that you both agree on something," Chloe said with a grin. She watched as Aubrey and Stacie both rolled their eyes and Aubrey motioned for her to continue. "Okay, so it happened when we walked along the beach. We were holding hands and talking about us and I asked her to kiss me and she did." Before any of the girls, namely Stacie, could ask for more details Chloe continued on. "It was sweet, fairly tame but felt very nice. That is all I will tell you."

"Sooo…she didn't seem to have taken a trip to France lately? No French persuasion in her actions?" Stacie asked while nudging her leg.

"What? No, Stacie, no tongue action. I said it was sweet!"

"Hey, that is sweet for me so I don't know what your problem is," Stacie said laughing.

"Ew, gross," Aubrey said trying to nudge Stacie off the couch with her feet.

"Gross? What are you, Aubrey, twelve? You need to get laid, woman. But I shall leave you two to your beauty rest and I expect to hear more about Miss Mitchell in the future, Chloe. Keep me updated, yeah?" Stacie stood up but not before playfully pushing Aubrey's feet back and smiling at her. She leaned down and hugged Chloe giving her a gentle squeeze and whispering to her. "I don't care what the prude says, you have fun. I know you'll be safe but have fun, okay?"

Chloe nodded and let the brunette see herself out. "Bye, Stacie. I'll give you a call later tomorrow."

Once the door clicked behind Stacie, Chloe looked up at Aubrey who seemed to be focused on her feet. Chloe crawled over to lay her head on Aubrey's lap and hold Aubrey's hand. "What's wrong, Bree? Are you really that worried about Beca?"

"No. I mean, I am worried about Beca but that's not what I'm thinking about."

"What is it then?"

"It's just…that's the second time today someone has told me I need to get laid. Is sex like this magic cure all to everyone and I've just never realized it?"

Chloe tilted her head back to look back at Aubrey. She couldn't tell if the blonde was smiling just from her voice and the visual she had, although upside down, confirmed that Aubrey was not smiling so was actually being serious. "Bree, you're not a virgin. You've dated and had boyfriends and you've had sex so…what do you mean you've never realized it?"

"I just…well, when I did have it, it wasn't that great. It was nice…I guess…just not this wonderful thing that would supposedly cure me of whatever everyone is so convinced is wrong with me."

At this Chloe sat up, still keeping hold of her flat mate's hand. "Bree, we're just teasing you. There isn't anything wrong with you, you're just more conservative than Stacie or me. I didn't know that me saying that upset you. I won't tease you like that again, okay? And you know Stacie doesn't say it to be mean either she's just…well, she's just Stacie."

"But that still doesn't answer my question, what is so wonderful about it? Any time I've had it, I didn't see the big deal. I had better times hanging out with friends or doing really well at soccer or track. Maybe I missed something."

Chloe could honestly say she was happy she had never come across this problem personally. "Well, maybe you just haven't enjoyed it with the right person, Bree? You may need a deeper connection with someone before you feel it…physically…with them?"

"Maybe. Or maybe there were just doing it wrong." This made Chloe laugh. The blonde had to chuckle as well. "I swear, I'm not trying to bring down your good mood, it was just something I was thinking about. I am happy you're happy and not jealous like Stacie said."

"I know, sweetie. And we will find you someone just as awesome as you are too. It's just because you are so awesome that we have to look super hard for him. He's out there though. And the sex will be ah-mazing," Chloe said, giggling at the end.

Aubrey rolled her eyes but laughed along with the redhead. "Alright you, let's get to bed. We've both got some potentially sucky flights tomorrow and sleep will keep us from strangling passengers. That I do know."

* * *

Beca tapped the roof of the limo twice as a farewell to Franky and she got out and made her way to the building. She looked up to see a light on at Jesse's flat and quickly made her way up there.

Once at his door, she did a quick couple knocks and only had to wait a bit before the door swung open to reveal a wide eyed Jesse, grinning from ear to ear. "Okay, well you're home fairly early in the evening so you didn't get laid but you're smiling…well, smirking… so it couldn't have totally flopped! Nice, work, Beca!"

Beca came in the flat rolling her eyes and giving Jesse a shove to his shoulder as she passed him. Amy quickly whirled around in her chair upon hearing Jesse talking to Beca. "Oye, Short Stack, how did things go with Ginger? Did we sweep her off her feet? Come in, grab a beer, and tell us the details!"

The tiny brunette gave a 'why not' shrug and made her way to the fridge to grab a beer. Before she could shut the door she heard a request for drinks from both Jesse and Amy so she grabbed a few more. She came back to sit on what she considered Jesse's 'poop brown' couch and passed the others their drinks. Amy paused the movie to give Beca the floor.

Beca cracked open her beer and took a lengthy drink. Amy and Jesse watched impatiently. Beca kept drinking. Jesse flopped back against the couch. "Come on you camel, you don't need to take it down in one. Stop stalling and tell us about our date!"

Beca brought the bottle, which was now about two-thirds empty, and made a 'give me' motion to Jesse. Jesse looked back at her confused. "No, I'm not giving you my beer. You have your own. Or you did a second ago."

"Not your beer, weirdo, give me your man card again. You're treading a thin line, Swanson."

Amy laughed as Jesse threw a pillow in Beca's direction. "Whatever. See if we help next time. If you even managed to earn a next time, that is."

"Well, for starters you didn't really help, Amy did." Beca motioned over to the blonde who raised her beer and tipped her head in Beca's direction. "Also, we will be going on another date in the near future which I will be planning, thank you very much. And I'm not quite sure what qualifies this as an 'our' date situation."

Jesse gave up being offended and was now intrigued. "Did you tell her you didn't plan this one? Was she upset?"

"I did tell her but she was actually very cool about it. It helped that she had a really good time though."

"Of course she did! I know what the ladies like! Well, I mean, I know what I like and I'm a lady so…yeah…that just didn't come out right all around. Strike that from the record. Please, continue with how the night went." Amy tilted back in the chair making herself comfortable.

Beca told her friends how the date went. She left out the part about Chloe's issue with the dark and her confessing about the clowns. Jesse already knew that bit about her but it was always a good thing not to remind him and Amy definitely didn't need to know yet. Oh, and the fact that Chloe had to tell her to kiss her. Twice. But she did tell them about the kisses.

"Well, done, Becs!" Jesse raised a fist which Beca pounded. Both Amy and Jesse knew better than to try and pump Beca for too many details quite yet. Both were just happy the DJ seemed to have a good time on the date and that another was on the horizon.

"I mean, it was fun. She made it really fun," Beca said as she quietly went back to drinking her beer.

Amy and Jesse looked at each other in the bit of silence, both raising their eyebrows in question.

"Correct me if I'm wrong here, I mean I don't think I am but feel free to correct me if I am- you seem to really like her already. That's pretty quick for you," Jesse said leaning forward looking at Beca. "Not to say you aren't our special little ray of sunshine but you usually get bored with other people's existence in general after about ten minutes. Unless you're talking music – did you talk about music all night?"

Leaning back, Beca grinned because she couldn't really deny any of what Jesse said. She didn't try to be outwardly rude to people but she did have a really short attention span when it came to small talk and since she didn't like talking about herself usually that left conversations pretty short. She shook her head. "She just seems different. I don't know. I can't really explain it but we did have a good time. I mean, I was nervous at first but she was so cool about everything that it kept my spazzing to a minimum." Beca turned towards Fat Amy. "And before I forget, thank you for everything you arranged tonight, Amy. It was really nice and worked out great. Even Franky, while totally terrifying, was pretty cool."

"No problem, boss. Just remember that when bonus time comes around, yeah? Or when you two name your first child – whichever comes first. Which sounds better for a baby ginger, Fat Amy Jr. or Fat Amy the second?"

Beca's eyebrows shot up as Amy mouthed both names pensively to herself. "Oookay then. Anyway, I will pay you back somehow."

"So when's the next date? And what's the plan, DJ Lady Killer?" Jesse unpaused the television as Emma Stone just finished spelling 'twat' out in peas.

"Okay, that just makes me sound like a serial killer. I'm going to have to pass on that one entirely. And I'm not sure on either front yet because I need to check with CR how the next couple of weeks are suppose to go between studio time here and New York. She was going to hear back from everyone in the next couple of days so I should find out then."

The three did a toast to another great day in the history books. While they continued to watch Emma perform her comedic genius, Beca pulled out her phone and typed up a quick message and hit send.

Just as Chloe was laying her head on the pillow she heard her phone buzz on the side table next to her. She smiled, closed her eyes and sent a quick wish to have the message be from a particular tiny DJ before checking the message. First, she was proud she was able to contain the squeal to an internal one when she saw the DJ's name and second she realized she was going to have to force Beca to take a picture for her caller ID next time she saw her.

* * *

'Thanks for a great night. Really looking forward to the next. Sweet dreams, Chloe.'

"Awww…short and sweet- just like her!" Chloe cooed to herself.

She was about to type a warm and fuzzy response back when her phone buzzed again. She quickly flipped over to the message.

'And if those sweet dreams star me, I won't blame you ;) '

Chloe's head flopped back on the pillow as she let out a loud laugh.

* * *

Beca quickly opened the message screen as soon as her phone flashed to try and keep Jesse and Amy's attention on the movie. She smirked and felt her cheeks grow warm as she read the messages she received.

'Such a talent for killing the moment, you don't even need to be present! :P I had a great time too and am ready to see what YOU have planned for next time.'

'I will say that kiss was pretty dream worthy though so maybe I will see you again tonight ;) G'night, Beca'


End file.
